ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday invited jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to resume its reconciliatory talks with the government after it withdrew from the process this week, offering the formation of a parliamentary committee to probe results of the 2024 general elections.
Pakistan held its general election on Feb. 8, 2024 that was marred by a mobile Internet shutdown and unusually delayed results. The polls threw up a hung National Assembly and were followed by weeks of protests by opposition parties over allegations of rigging and vote count fraud.
Khan last week called on his party’s members and supporters from all walks of life to mark Feb. 8 as a “Black Day” and hold protests across the country to protest alleged rigging of last year’s polls. The call came amid renewed tensions between Khan’s party and the government, following the PTI boycott of the latest round of reconciliatory talks with the government on Jan. 28.
Khan’s party blames the government for the breakdown of negotiations, saying it did not release political prisoners and establish judicial commissions to investigate violent protests of May 9, 2023, and Nov. 26, 2024. The government blames Khan’s party for walking away from the talks “unilaterally” before they had a chance to respond to the PTI’s demands.
“I am absolutely ready in all honesty and with pure intentions that this dialogue moves forward,” Sharif said in televised comments after presiding over his cabinet’s meeting. “I feel that they [PTI] should come and sit, we are ready for a House committee.”
Negotiations began last month, and three rounds have been held so far. At the last meeting on Jan. 16, the PTI gave the government seven days to announce the truth commissions, a deadline that expired on Jan. 23. Subsequently, the PTI announced it was abandoning the talks process.
Sharif said his government was ready to bring all facts regarding the polls to light.
“The committee formed by Khan to probe the 2018 elections should complete its work and another be formed for the 2024 elections,” he said.
“Similarly, if you talk about the Nov. 26 protest, a House committee should be formed to probe the 2014 PTI party protest [against Sharif’s party] and the Nov. 26 one too.”
Khan’s ouster in a parliamentary no-trust vote in 2022 has plunged Pakistan into a political crisis, particularly since the PTI founder was jailed in August last year on corruption and other charges and remains behind bars. His party and supporters have regularly held protests calling for his release, with many of the demonstrations turning violent.
Khan’s first arrest in May 2023 in the land graft case in which he was sentenced last week sparked countrywide protests that saw his supporters attack and ransack military installations in an unprecedented backlash against Pakistan’s powerful army generals.
Although Khan was released days later, he was rearrested in August of that year after being convicted in a corruption case. He remains in prison and says all cases against him are politically motivated.