Imran ready to give undertaking for talks with parties: Asad

ISLAMABAD: In his bid to ensure political stability in the country, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan is ready to provide an undertaking for negotiations with political parties and move ahead, the party’s Secretary General Asad Umar said.

“Imran Khan wants to give an undertaking. There should also be an undertaking from the government,” the PTI leader said while speaking to Geo News in Islamabad on Wednesday.

A day earlier, Khan — going against his traditional stance against sitting with political parties in the incumbent government — Imran said he was ready to partake in all kinds of all-parties conferences (APC) for “upholding the Constitution”.

However, the PTI chief also termed the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) “a group of thieves” and not a political alliance.

Umar, while commenting on the Supreme Court’s ruling on PTI’s plea against the Election Commission of Pakistan for postponing the polls in Punjab, said that Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial has spoken about the importance of all political parties agreeing on a plan of action.

“The chief justice is talking about a free environment. It is his positive view to unite everyone,” he said.

The former finance minister maintained that there should be such things on the court’s record on the basis of which the election could be held.

“The chief justice is not a politician; his job is to enforce the Constitution,” the PTI member said.

He added that the PTI’s government was ousted on the decision of this particular chief justice.

The country’s top court, ahead of its ruling on the case, has asked the government to provide assurances that the political temperature would be toned down.

The court also said that the parties had to decide the direction of the circumstances while the court had to keep the facts in view when commenting on the matter of elections and their date.

Earlier Wednesday, speaking with journalists in Islamabad, Umar censured Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for lambasting the PTI chief.

“Earlier, he would ask us to dissolve the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies for an election. We dissolved both the assemblies and now he refuses to hold an election,” Umar said.

The PTI leader went on to add that the premier earlier gave statements about negotiations and how Khan never agreed to it, but now that the PTI chairman was ready for negotiations — for the sake of stability and transparent polls in the country — PM Shehbaz was asking him to apologise.

A day earlier in a fiery address in the parliament, PM Shehbaz said he was of the clear opinion that talks between the government and PTI chairman will only be possible if the former premier admits his “wrongdoings” and apologises to people for all the things he had said and done.

“Mian Sahib knows that the nation is against their narrative and no one is ready to trust what they are saying after how their lives have become difficult in the last one year,” Umar said and added that this was why the prime minister was giving such haphazard statements.