No dialogue with establishment or govt before Nov 24 protest: PTI

Sheikh Waqas Akram, a member of the National Assembly (MNA) affiliated with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has said that his party would not negotiate with the government or establishment before their scheduled nationwide protest this weekend.

"There is no possibility of negotiations with the government or the establishment before the protest," Akram said in an interview with the host of the Geo News' programme 'Naya Pakistan' on Sunday.

The incarcerated PTI founder, Imran Khan, had last week given a call to his supporters to protest in Islamabad on November 24.

"Imran Khan says this is the final call for a [anti-government] protest. The PTI founder has stressed that the party's entire leadership will be part of the march," said his lawyer Faisal Chaudhry following a meeting in Adiala Jail.

The protest would not only take place in Islamabad, but throughout Pakistan and across the world where Imran's supporters were present, said Chaudhry.

The party has made four demands — revoke the 26th Constitutional Amendment, restore democracy and constitution, return the public’s mandate, and release all "innocent political" prisoners.

The lawyer, Chaudhry said that the party founder had also formed a committee for the march and asked not to reveal the names of those who were part of it as Imran feared they would be arrested.

Khan has been behind bars since August 2023 after he was sentenced in the Toshakhana case and subsequently sentenced in other cases.

Moving on, 'Naya Pakistan' programme's host Shahzad Iqbal quoted Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Rana Sanaullah as saying that the PTI protest was no big deal for the government and the opposition party would reap no benefit from this.

In response, Akram said Sanaullah had earlier been saying that they would not be able to cross the Attock bridge but his party did. He also said the party workers would stay put there until the goals were accomplished.

"We will not leave (the protest venue) until the goals of the protest are achieved," he maintained.

To a query, he said Defence Minister Khawaja Asif was nobody to say that people of the PTI were compromised. If it was so, then he should be happy instead of worrying about it, he added.

Earlier, Sanaullah, who holds the portfolio of Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Affairs, in the same programme, said the PTI’s call was no challenge to the government.

He also said the opposition party gave call for the protest without doing homework and this call would backfire and cause the party an immense damage.

The prime minister offered the PTI for having a political dialogue, he said adding, but dialogue was not listed in the PTI founder’s politics.