Nawaz shuns Imran's offer for talks amid PTI resignations, police raids
Pakistan
The former premier says talks are only held with politicians and not 'terrorists'
LONDON (Dunya News) – PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif on Saturday ruled out any possibility of holding talks with the PTI.
It comes minutes after PTI chief Imran Khan had formed a seven-member committee to hold negotiations with the PDM-led government.
Taking to Twitter, he wrote, “Talks are held with politicians only. No talks will be held with the group that desecrated martyrs’ graves, and terrorists who burned the country.”
— Nawaz Sharif (@NawazSharifMNS) May 27, 2023
The PTI committee includes senior vice president Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Parvez Khattak, Asad Qaisar, Haleem Adil Sheikh, Aon Abbas Buppi, Murad Saeed, and Hammad Azhar. Some of the leaders Mr Khan named are either in jail, hiding from arrests, or being speculated about leaving the party amid PTI's mass exodus.
Earlier, PTI chief Imran Khan appealed the political stakeholders to hold "immediate talks" as the party had been seeing scores of its members parting their ways.
Mr Khan said whenever he called for dialogue, he began to face mounted pressure. "Do not dare think that I am weak because whenever I call for it, police come outside my home, and warrants are issued," he added.
He went on to say that crackdown was launched against the party without investigating the attacks on Lahore’s Commander House. He asked if anyone would like to harm the army, adding that attacking the army was akin to weakening the country.
Talking to journalists earlier, Mr Khan said he could swear that he never asked his party activist to vandalise [national buildings], adding that how could he ask them to do so now even when he did not allow so after he survived an assassination attempt [in Wazirabad]. “If the PTI is popular with public, why will it adopt the policy of siege,” he asked.
