Imran forms 7-member PTI committee for talks with govt

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday constituted a negotiating team to hold talks with the government on the instructions of party chairman Imran Khan.

The team, comprising Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pervez Khattak, Asad Qaiser, Haleem Adil Sheikh, Aun Abbasi, Murad Saeed, and Hammad Azhar, will be responsible for formulating a plan of action in relation to the elections and engaging with the government.

Earlier, while speaking to journalists at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore, Imran Khan said that if he is disqualified or arrested, Shah Mahmood Qureshi will lead the party, and in the future, Murad Saeed will emerge as a ‘prominent leader’, Express News reported.

“The time will soon change, and in the coming days, I will give a big surprise. There is no fight between me and the military,” he added.

Khan said that he has consulted with his legal team for the release of arrested workers, and soon the party will approach the courts in this connection. He said that apart from elections, there is no solution to the country’s prevailing issues, adding that the current government has ruined the national economy.

“I know that there is a plan to arrest me, disqualify me, or even kill me. If I am arrested or disqualified, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Pervez Khattak will handle the [party] affairs,” he said.

Imran Khan said that those who are leaving the party, some are forced and real faces of some have been exposed. “The youth are the biggest asset for the party, and they have the right to future tickets. PTI will emerge victorious in the elections.”

He stated that President Arif Alvi will work according to the Constitution. “Let’s have a referendum today and see the result. I can take an oath on this matter that I have never advocated violence and destruction. If I didn’t resort to violence even when bullets were fired at me, how was it possible now?”

Khan further said that everything has been planned against PTI. “When we are winning in public, why should we resort to violence?,” he concluded.

‘PDM responsible for backbreaking inflation’

Meanwhile, taking to Twitter, Imran Khan has said that backbreaking inflation and unprecedented fall in value of Pakistani rupee is being witnessed while the government has all its focus on the worst crackdown on PTI.

“Dollar [is] selling at Rs310 in the open market and there’s record backbreaking inflation in the country right now. While our debt is accumulating at the fastest rate ever, the economy is shrinking. All our annual tax revenue collections do not even cover the interest that we have to pay on our loans.

“While the country’s economy is crashing right before our eyes, all this fascist govt is thinking of, are more coercive and oppressive measures to crush PTI,” the former premier tweeted.

The PTI chairman said: “Of course to the PDM leadership this historic devaluation of the rupee doesn’t matter because all their ill-gotten wealth is stashed abroad in dollars. It will be the people of Pakistan who will experience inflation and poverty while PDM leaders will be beneficiaries of this fall in rupee.”

Maryam rejcets talks offer

Reacting to the development, PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz rejected Khan’s bid to engage in talks with the government, saying “discussions are done only with politicians”.

“There will be no talks with the group of terrorists and saboteurs who burn the memorials of martyrs, set the country on fire,” she wrote on her official Twitter handle.