RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) imprisoned founder Imran Khan has expressed willingness for initiating talks with the army, asking the military to nominate a representative to hold parleys.
The PTI founder, who appeared in a court established in Adiala jail for a hearing, said: “We are ready to hold talks with the military. The army should nominate their representative [for negotiations].”
Khan, who has been imprisoned for nearly a year, said that his party had never levelled allegations against the army, but had only criticised the armed forces.
He further said that if any PTI worker was found guilty in the May 9, 2023, riots then the authorities should penalise the individual.
Khan reiterated that the incumbent government wanted to destroy his party by creating a wedge between PTI party and the armed forces.
When asked why was he seeking talks when he was criticising the army and why wasn’t he seeking talks with political parties, he said: “What is the SIFC? Who is Mohsin Naqvi? There is an undeclared martial law.”
Khan said that Interior Minister Naqvi was “their” representative and that he had reached “this place due to them”.
He then alleged that he would never hold talks with Naqvi as he along with the Punjab Inspector General (IG) “oppressed” his party.
The deposed prime minister, referring to his arrest last year, alleged that he was “abducted from judicial complex” and “it was declared legal by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamer Farooq”.
He demanded the IHC CJ to recuse himself from his cases. Appealing to the judiciary, Khan said that his cases should be referred to any other high court judges except for Justice Farooq.
More to follow…
