- PPP conveyed readiness to back PTI without conditions.
- Govt plans to impose ban on party, says PTI’s Shafi Jan.
- PTI criticised for refusing dialogue opportunities repeatedly.
Minister for Climate Change Dr Musadik Malik on Tuesday revealed that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had repeatedly turned down the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) offers to help it form the government after the general elections 2024.
Speaking on Geo News’ programme “Capital Talk”, the minister said that the first offer had come through PPP leader Khurshid Shah, who telephoned PTI leaders and conveyed that the party was willing to vote for them if they wished to form the government.
“PTI was also told to form government and open Form-45 and Form-47 under its own supervision to verify results,” he said.
Malik added that another PPP leader, Nadeem Afzal Chan, had separately approached PTI, assuring them of PPP’s unconditional support to help the party take charge. However, PTI rejected this offer as well, he claimed.
Malik further criticised PTI, saying it neither wanted to form a government nor to run one, and even refused to allow the existing government to function, leaving its intentions unclear. “You do not want to talk to the government and consider people powerless,” he remarked.
The PTI-backed independent candidates won the most National Assembly seats in the February 8 elections, followed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
However, the PML-N, with the support of the other parties including the PPP formed a coalition government in the Centre.
The PTI claimed that its mandate had been stolen during elections, an allegation the ruling coalition has denied.
Commenting on PTI’s stance toward political engagement, Malik — during today’s show — said the party “will have to change its narrative,” adding that “a strange web is being created in which multiple narratives are emerging”.
He questioned why PTI complained about a lack of dialogue when it refused to talk, saying: “If PTI believes we do not have the authority to negotiate, then what is their grievance?”
He insisted that PTI was responsible for “the fire it ignited and further intensified,” and that it must also play a role in extinguishing it.
He recalled that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had publicly expressed his willingness on the assembly floor to engage in dialogue with PTI, but the party rejected the offer.
PM Shehbaz has time and again invited the Imran Khan-founded party to resume its reconciliation talks, with the most recent one being during Pakistan-India’s four-day armed conflict.
The dialogue between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led government and the PTI commenced in late December last year after months of heightened political tensions.
Despite the two sides holding three rounds of negotiations on December 27, 2024, January 2, 2025, and January 16, the dialogue process hit a snag after the PTI refused to continue with the talks, first saying that they had been called off by its incarcerated founder, Imran Khan and then later backtracking and noting that they had only been put on hold.
‘Ban on PTI’
Speaking during today’s programme, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Special Assistant on Information Shafiullah Jan said that meaningful talks required “a conducive environment,” questioning whether trust was possible in the prevailing circumstances.
He alleged that the federal government had a “complete plan” to impose a ban on PTI, adding that federal ministers were aggressively politicising the May 9 incidents.
He warned that the government could go as far as filing treason cases and enforcing a party-wide ban.
A day earlier, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah said that treason cases against PTI founder could not be ruled out.
“We cannot rule out treason case[s] being lodged against the PTI founder,” Senator Sanaullah, a senior PML-N leader and former interior minister, said during an interview on a private broadcaster.
