‘No blackmailing’: Talks with PTI only possible on ‘legitimate’ demands, says PM Shehbaz

• Previously invited PTI leaders for dialogue too: PM Shehbaz.
• Remarks come after Imran dismisses Achakzai’s talks call.
• PTI founder instructed KP CM to prepare for street protest.
  

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said that the talks with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf are possible only on “legitimate” demands and attempts at blackmail under the guise of dialogue will not be tolerated.

Addressing the federal cabinet meeting, PM Shehbaz said that PTI founder Imran Khan and his associates were also discussing about holding talks. The prime minister said that he had previously invited PTI leaders for dialogue and had also extended the invitation on the National Assembly floor.

“Discussions could only be held on legitimate demands. Blackmailing will not work under the guise of negotiations, said the prime minister.

His remarks came two days after PTI’s jailed founder, Imran Khan, dismissed Mahmood Khan Achakzai’s call for dialogue. “My message for Sohail Afridi is to prepare for a street movement. The entire nation must rise for their rights!!,” a post on Imran’s X handle read.

When approached, PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said that since the policy direction for a protest movement has come directly from party leader Imran Khan, it will prevail, The News reported.

Akram explained that Achakzai may proceed with his own political initiatives, including dialogue, but PTI leaders are bound to follow Imran Khan’s latest directive. According to Akram, Khan has instructed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister to prepare for a protest movement for the rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution.

A source close to the federal government had earlier maintained that without an expression of regret or an apology over the May 9 incidents and anti-army campaigns carried out by the party’s social media, no meaningful dialogue is possible with the PTI.

At a national conference of the opposition alliance held on Saturday, its head, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, declared that the Constitution had been reduced to tatters. Achakzai urged former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to step forward and initiate dialogue to steer the country out of crisis.