islamabad:
Imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan appointed SIC chief Sahibzada Mohammad Hamid Raza as spokesperson for the party’s committee for negotiations with the Pakistan government to make the process meaningful. requested a meeting with the negotiating team.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan, 72, also expressed his party’s demands, saying that if the government agrees, it will postpone the civil disobedience movement it announced earlier.
Raza, chairman of the Sunni Ittihad Council (SIC), is a member of parliament and chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on human rights. SIC is an affiliate partner of PTI.
The PTI leader’s announcement was made during a meeting with his legal team on Tuesday at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, where he has been imprisoned since last year.
“The efforts of the party’s negotiation committee are good. In order to make the negotiation process meaningful, it is important that I meet with the negotiation team I have appointed and understand the issues correctly,” Khan posted. X after that meeting.
Earlier on Monday, the Pakistani government and Khan’s party agreed in their first meeting to continue talks to address controversial issues such as Khan’s release.
The long-awaited talks between the government and the committee representing the PTI were chaired by National Assembly (NA) Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, who announced last week that he would facilitate the efforts of both sides in an effort to defuse prevailing political tensions.
Monday’s meeting prompted Pakistan’s government, led by Shehbaz Sharif, to set up a negotiating committee to begin formal negotiations with Khan after his PTI threatened to call for civil disobedience. It was held the day after.
After appointing Raza as PTI’s spokesperson for the negotiation process, Khan also conveyed the party’s demands for successful negotiations with the government.
These include the release of all political prisoners on trial for the party and the establishment of a judicial commission to investigate the events of May 9, 2023 and November 26 this year.
“If these demands are carried out, we will postpone the civil disobedience campaign. However, we do not believe that the government will try to sideline our investigation demands of May 9 and November 26 last year. “We are concerned that this could happen, but we will not allow that to happen,” he said. .
Mr. Khan also rejected military tribunals as “unconstitutional” and said the judgments of these courts tarnished Pakistan’s reputation in the international community and said such inhumane acts could lead to economic sanctions against the country. He added that there might even be a connection.
The military court’s decision also renders the constitutional tribunal established after the constitutional amendment in October this year meaningless, and indirectly restricts the judiciary by allowing military-led tribunals to announce decisions in civilian cases. He said that this amounted to sanctioning a political trial. “After the 26th Constitutional Amendment, the judiciary has become completely dysfunctional. The establishment of the Constitutional Bench and its rulings are tantamount to embarrassing the Supreme Court,” he said. Added.
Mr Khan has now announced further protests in the form of a civil disobedience movement and called on the Pakistani community to boycott remittances if their demands are not met by Sunday (December 22).
“We appeal to Pakistanis living abroad that it is clear that the situation in Pakistan continues to be an era of repression and fascism, with democracy, judiciary and media suppressed. I urge you to start boycotting Pakistan.” Khan announced on December 19th.
On May 9, after Mr. Khan was arrested in an accountability case in 2023, hundreds of thousands of his supporters and party workers descended on Jinnah House, Mianwali Air Force base, They destroyed more than a dozen military facilities, including the ISI building in Salabad. .
The Army Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was also attacked by insurgents for the first time last year.
Mr. Khan’s party began protest marches earlier this year, the latest being on November 26, when police arrested hundreds of PTI supporters who were taking part in a protest march and planned sit-in into the capital, Islamabad. arrested the person.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
