PTI rejects govt's strings-attached talks offer

Says reconciliation with ‘mandate thieves, national criminals’ out of question

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) fired back on Saturday at the ruling alliance's offers for dialogue with strings attached, reiterating its founding chairman Imran Khan’s post-February 8 general election stance against talks with the PML-N, PPP, or MQM-P.

In a statement, a PTI spokesperson lambasted Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Governor Faisal Karim Kundi for their “absurd statements” about talks.

The spokesperson declared that the “fraudulently imposed people” lacked the mandate and authority to slash fuel prices, let alone negotiate with PTI.

The response from PTI came just a day after the deputy PM asserted that there would be no talks with those attacking state institutions, labelling such actions as “acts of rebellion.”

Reportedly, the foreign minister stressed his belief in political negotiation and reconciliation but drew a firm line against actions targeting the state.

K-P Governor Kundi also expressed his readiness to talk with PTI if the party apologizes for past mistakes, urging PTI to play its role in parliament instead of making noise.

In a strongly-worded retort to Dar and Kundi’s statements, the PTI spokesperson described the invitation to the country's largest political party for talks by the “mandate stealing puppets” who came to power with the help of “fake Form 47” as extremely ridiculous.

The spokesperson said that those who stole public mandates in the dark of the night and unlawfully imposed on the nation through forged form 47 hold no authority, nor do any of their words or actions have any value.

He stated that the Sharifs and Zardari’s “courtiers” were making hues and cries under the pretext of a new propaganda campaign every day, saying it was a clear indication that the end of their “illegitimate power” was near.

He stated that “national criminals who seized powers with the help of striking secret deals and corruption under the auspices of powerful circles” have no authority to make decisions in the national interest.

“There was no room for reconciliation with the thieves and national criminals who had been looting the country by coming into power through deals with the powerful,” the spokesperson said. He pointed out that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s authority was challenged last night when his statement reducing the prices of petroleum products was changed within minutes by the finance ministry.

Similarly, he recalled, there were several people like PML-N leader Javed Latif in the ranks of the ruling alliance testifying to the fact that they had been imposed on the people through poll rigging.

PTI reiterated that Imran Khan has made it clear that “there will be no talks with the three parties with fake mandate PML-N, PPP and MQM-P.”

After pushing the country into a dead-end politically and economically, he said, “they were now begging for direct negotiations with the country’s largest and only national-level party.”

He concluded by saying that after seizing power through “illegitimate means and massive loot and plunder,” they should seek forgiveness from the nation for their crimes and “return the public mandate rather than begging for talks.”