Today is the last day for negotiations: Imran
PTI chief urges supporters to flock to Constitution Avenue to join protest sit-in.
ISLAMABAD:
“We are giving talks one last chance. After today’s negotiations we’ll announce our new course of action,” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan said Tuesday night after his top aides and government negotiators agreed to resume stalled talks on Wednesday.
“I ask my supporters, especially young students, to gather here at 6pm as I will announce my future line of action,” Imran told participants of a PTI sit-in on the Constitution Avenue outside the Parliament House.
He expressed his apprehensions that the government might also take action against PTI workers on Wednesday but warned that “if the government makes such an attempt, then we will put up a tough fight”.
The PTI chairman demanded the government remove all shipping containers blocking entry to the venue of his party’s sit-in. He hoped that the Supreme Court would order the removal of all containers on Wednesday.
Imran promised that he would turn Pakistan into an Islamic welfare state, where salaries of teachers, police and judges would be much higher. “These three segments contribute immensely to the establishment of a good and just society,” he added.
He requested the judiciary to play its role in giving justice to the people and stand against the powerful “who usurp the rights of the people”.
Imran questioned how Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif flew to China while he was involved in the Model Town massacre. “Shahbaz Sharif’s name should have been put on the exit control list (ECL),” he said.
He again hit out at former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Geo/Jang Group and ROs for their alleged role in the 2013 election rigging.
Imran said former Election Commission of Pakistan official Afzal Khan is an honest person, who exposed all the wrongdoings and election riggings, adding that people had started a rebellion against Nawaz Sharif and his monarchy.
He reiterated that in the presence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, there was zero chance of a transparent investigation into rigging complaints. “We will continue our protest till resignation of the PM,” he said, adding that Geo/Jang Group’s owner Mir Shakilur Rehman would also go along with the government.
Imran Khan also mentioned the late Nawab Akbar Bugti’s and said his assassination had created anarchy in Balochistan and a sense of deprivation among the Baloch.
Deadlock persists
Meanwhile, the deadlock between government and the PTI did not break even after the fourth round of negotiation which took place between the two sides on Tuesday.
“The deadlock is still there as we failed to reach a consensus,” said PTI’s vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi in a brief media talk after the negotiation. However, he said the dialogue process had started again and it would be taken up again today (Wednesday).
The talks continued for over two hours but failed to produce a breakthrough as the PTI did not budge on its demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Also talking to the media, government’s negotiator Ishaq Dar, who is federal minister for finance, said they hoped for a positive outcome of the negotiation.
Comments on former chief justice
The PTI’s Central Information Secretary Dr Shireen Mazari has said that the reply – submitted on behalf of Imran Khan in the Supreme Court in ex-CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry’s defamation petition – was done without his knowledge and clearance.
“[Imran Khan] stands by every word he had said about the ex-CJP’s role in the 2013 elections. Anything that detracts from this is an incorrect representation of his views,” she added.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 27th, 2014.
“We are giving talks one last chance. After today’s negotiations we’ll announce our new course of action,” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan said Tuesday night after his top aides and government negotiators agreed to resume stalled talks on Wednesday.
“I ask my supporters, especially young students, to gather here at 6pm as I will announce my future line of action,” Imran told participants of a PTI sit-in on the Constitution Avenue outside the Parliament House.
He expressed his apprehensions that the government might also take action against PTI workers on Wednesday but warned that “if the government makes such an attempt, then we will put up a tough fight”.
The PTI chairman demanded the government remove all shipping containers blocking entry to the venue of his party’s sit-in. He hoped that the Supreme Court would order the removal of all containers on Wednesday.
Imran promised that he would turn Pakistan into an Islamic welfare state, where salaries of teachers, police and judges would be much higher. “These three segments contribute immensely to the establishment of a good and just society,” he added.
He requested the judiciary to play its role in giving justice to the people and stand against the powerful “who usurp the rights of the people”.
Imran questioned how Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif flew to China while he was involved in the Model Town massacre. “Shahbaz Sharif’s name should have been put on the exit control list (ECL),” he said.
He again hit out at former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Geo/Jang Group and ROs for their alleged role in the 2013 election rigging.
Imran said former Election Commission of Pakistan official Afzal Khan is an honest person, who exposed all the wrongdoings and election riggings, adding that people had started a rebellion against Nawaz Sharif and his monarchy.
He reiterated that in the presence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, there was zero chance of a transparent investigation into rigging complaints. “We will continue our protest till resignation of the PM,” he said, adding that Geo/Jang Group’s owner Mir Shakilur Rehman would also go along with the government.
Imran Khan also mentioned the late Nawab Akbar Bugti’s and said his assassination had created anarchy in Balochistan and a sense of deprivation among the Baloch.
Deadlock persists
Meanwhile, the deadlock between government and the PTI did not break even after the fourth round of negotiation which took place between the two sides on Tuesday.
“The deadlock is still there as we failed to reach a consensus,” said PTI’s vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi in a brief media talk after the negotiation. However, he said the dialogue process had started again and it would be taken up again today (Wednesday).
The talks continued for over two hours but failed to produce a breakthrough as the PTI did not budge on its demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Also talking to the media, government’s negotiator Ishaq Dar, who is federal minister for finance, said they hoped for a positive outcome of the negotiation.
Comments on former chief justice
The PTI’s Central Information Secretary Dr Shireen Mazari has said that the reply – submitted on behalf of Imran Khan in the Supreme Court in ex-CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry’s defamation petition – was done without his knowledge and clearance.
“[Imran Khan] stands by every word he had said about the ex-CJP’s role in the 2013 elections. Anything that detracts from this is an incorrect representation of his views,” she added.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 27th, 2014.