ISLAMABAD: Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Barrister Gohar Ali Khan Tuesday said they had been begging for a meeting with their incarcerated founder chairman and ‘others’ for quite some time, adding their own people had a hand in blocking the access.
Gohar made these remarks, reeking of desperation, after the family members and senior leaders were again stopped outside the Adiala jail.
“Every Tuesday, I come here and wait for the meeting, which does not take place and we go back dejected. But I shall say this thing that we are begging today for meeting, side by side with others our own (people) also have a hand in it,” he remarked while talking to the media along with the party lawyers and workers at the Dahgal checkpoint near the Adiala jail.
Gohar said a forceful street movement was their constitutional right but it was no substitute for negotiations. He emphasized that those in power should find a way so that the situation would improve.
“No matter how intense the movement is, there is no substitute for negotiations and the need of the hour is that hearts should open now,” he contended. He pointed out that Imran never said that from now on, there would be no negotiations, adding his party never called off dialogue.
Gohar said negotiations were not progressing in tandem with the current situation. We are entering the New Year, but it seems 2026 will also be the year of punishments, he added.
He regretted that some 18 PTI lawmakers receiving lakhs of votes were sent home and Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi were also convicted, testifying to the failure of the system.
About the recent widely discussed visit of KP chief minister to Punjab, he explained that while the visit was conducted without broader party consultation, it was carried out under the direct instructions of the PTI founder.
The PTI chairman said a ceasefire was reached with the enemy, but ‘our mutual tension is not ending; I have not received any instructions from the founder that there will be no talks after today’. He said the party founder had definitely given instructions regarding the street movement adding that protest was their constitutional right and the founder had given responsibility to Sohail Afridi in this regard.
Gohar pointed out that the authority for negotiations lay with Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Allama Nasir Abbas. Achakzai will give the roadmap for negotiations, he added.
He said meetings were previously allowed but then obstacles were suddenly put in place. At least, Bushra Bibi should be allowed to meet, he added.
Gohar also regretted that they came to meet their leader every Tuesday, waited for the appointed time and then went back. “I request the people in power to have some pity on this country,” he maintained.
