Rejecting media reports about a PML-N meeting wherein President Nawaz Sharif directed his party to hold talks with all political parties including the PTI to take the country out of the crises, Federal Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif said that Nawaz did not even speak on politics in the said meeting let alone extending an olive branch to the Imran Khan-founded party.
Speaking to a news channel, he said neither any such thing was discussed in the meeting nor Nawaz gave instructions in this regard.
“We concentrated on two topics only during the meeting, one on holding local bodies elections in Punjab and the other on bringing down electricity prices,” he said.
Asif also said that unless the PTI apologised for the May 9 violent incidents, there would be no room for progress in the negotiations with them. “Accountability of the May 9 incidents should be held 200%,” he said. He further maintained that the opposition party directly or indirectly expressing desire for negotiations was devoid of sincerity.
The minister, while pointing towards PTI founder Imran Khan’s erratic behavior, said even PTI members did not trust him and lamented about his egoistic and opportunistic attitude. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he added, offered the PTI to hold talks multiple times.
Khwaja Asif that the premier had even proposed the Imran Khan-founded party to sign a charter of economy. However, neither the PTI founder nor any of his ministers responded to the proposal, he revealed.
“The PTI founder (then PM) sat turning his back towards the opposition with arrogance,” he said, stressing how his camaraderie with former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa and Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed was on peak at the time.
The Pakistan Muslim League-N leader said even as the premier, Shehbaz invited them for negotiations and a charter of economy.
“Just few months ago, PM Shehbaz Sharif walked the floor of the National Assembly to their seats. He shook hands with the entire PTI leadership,” he said describing the prime minister’s amicable conduct with the opposition.
