Pakistan’s former Prime Minister and Chairman of the political party PTI Imran Khan has softened his hardline stand of not holding any talks with the leaders of his opposition party and the current ruling coalition government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on issues concerning the country and its incompatible democratic interests.
Imran Khan has said in a recent statement that he is ready to talk to anyone for the sake of the country
Imran Khan said, I will not refrain from making any sacrifice for the progress of Pakistan, its interests and democracy. I am ready to talk to anyone and also ready to move forward for this.
Imran Khan’s agreement to hold talks and talks comes a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif made an open offer of talks in the interest of the country at large.
Imran Khan’s offer of talks has opened up hopes of a rapprochement between the two arch-political rivals. After months of political confrontation and the most chaotic scenes of unrest, protests and violent fighting between PTI supporters and security forces outside Imran Khan’s residence in Lahore, both sides are choosing a conciliatory tone.
While both sides are demonstrating their willingness to talk, it is unlikely that Imran Khan will sit across the table with Shehbaz Sharif or his political opponents. PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said Imran Khan’s offer of talks would be taken forward by the party leadership, which he said was available to sit across the table with anyone.
Fawad Chaudhry said, if the government was serious about talks, especially about holding simultaneous elections across the country, it should have formally offered talks instead of just making statement after statement.
Accusing the government of deliberately refraining from creating a conducive environment for talks, Chowdhury said PTI even roped in President Dr. Arif Alvi to mediate between the two sides, which he said did not yield any results.
Speaking at a special function of Pakistan’s Senate, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that Imran Khan did not even shake hands with opposition leaders during his tenure.
He said, during the tenure of Imran Khan, I had offered to hold detailed talks and sign the charter of the economy. But Imran Khan also wanted to listen to his opponents in Parliament. He did not even want to shake hands with his opponents.
Emphasizing that differences have to be kept aside for economic reforms, austerity and other key issues, he said, I call upon all political leadership to come together and steer the country out of the challenges.
Experts say that both the sides have softened their stand against each other. And now, it has to be either the judiciary or the establishment, which brings both the parties to the negotiating table to find a mutual ground of political relevance and mutual understanding for political forces to co-exist.
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