Imran's conviction 'not to derail talks'

PESHAWAR:

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa minister Shaukat Yousafzai has said that Imran Khan's conviction from the courts will not affect the ongoing negotiations.

In a press statement, Yousafzai said that PTI has no objection to submitting its demands in written form to the government's negotiation committee.

"Well, our demands are clear: release all detained workers and establish a judicial commission. I do not think that there is any need to submit this in writing," he said.

He added that delay happened because the PTI negotiation committee was not allowed to meet Imran Khan.

No demands can be given to the government until the PTI negotiation committee meets the party founder.

The government committee can meet its leadership for consultation any time but PTI's negotiating committee was not given the right to meet its leader in jail, he lamented, adding that the government should facilitate PTI for speedy negotiations.

Yousafzai noted that the case of 190 million pounds is one of acquittal and he didn't know what kind of drama the government was going to stage.

"Even if there is a conviction in this case, it would be overturned by the high court," he said with confidence.

Yousafzai claimed that the PTI founder does not want to strike a deal through negotiations, so Imran's conviction will not affect the negotiations.

He said that the decision to continue the negotiations depends on the seriousness of the government. The talks are not going to lead to any deal, so civil disobedience movement is also going on, he maintained.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Irfan Siddiqui has said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has introduced new demands in the ongoing political negotiations, raising concerns about the future of talks to resolve the country's political tensions.

Speaking to journalists on Sunday, he cautioned that PTI's shifting stance, which now includes the release of Imran Khan via an executive order and the involvement of "real decision-makers" in the talks, could undermine progress made during earlier negotiations.

The coalition government and PTI had initially reached consensus on two core demands during the first round of talks on December 23, 2024: the release of political prisoners and a judicial probe into the events of May 9 and November 26. However, the inclusion of additional conditions has drawn criticism from government representatives.

Siddiqui noted that despite assurances given during the earlier discussions, PTI has yet to submit a list of demands formally. He highlighted recent comments by PTI senior leader and former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, who revealed the party's desire to include "stakeholders with real decision-making power" in the dialogue process.

The PML-N leader expressed concern that this demand was not raised in previous rounds of negotiations, suggesting a lack of alignment within PTI's leadership.