Imran Khan’s recent tweets causing delay in him meeting negotiations committee, says Sher Afzal Marwat

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Sher Afzal Marwat stated on Tuesday that the party’s negotiation committee meeting with former premier Imran Khan is delayed due to the party founder's recent tweets.

Speaking on the ARY News programme 11th Hour, Marwat said that the government had not expected Imran Khan’s harsh tweets when the PTI was already involved in negotiations with them.

Founder PTI Imran Khan on Tuesday hit out at Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif in a post on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “In order to save the bogus and fraudulent government produced by Forms 47, PTI is being relentlessly crushed, and democracy, rule of law, and judicial independence are being buried. Shehbaz Sharif is nothing more than a puppet.”

“Even Shaukat Aziz, during Musharraf's era, was a more powerful prime minister because, at least, elections then did not witness the level of rigging seen in February 2024. This illegitimate but fragile group propped up by the fraudulent Forms 47 is a disgrace on the name of governance,” he decried Shehbaz Sharif.

The dialogue between the opposition party and the government was initiated two weeks ago. However, a significant development is yet to come despite two rounds of negotiations over the past couple of weeks.

According to reports, major hurdles so far are the PTI negotiators’ lack of access to jailed Imran Khan and the party’s unwillingness to share its charter of demands with the government in writing.

Marwat, however, maintained that the party negotiation committee meeting with Imran Khan in Adiala Jail is expected to take place in a couple of days.

The PTI firebrand asked why Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi was not included in the government negotiation committee; however, in the same breath, Marwat said, “If [Interior Minister] Mohsin Naqvi had been part of the negotiation committee, the issues surrounding the meeting with Khan wouldn’t have dragged on for so long.”

Commenting on surveillance during the meeting with Imran Khan, Marwat explained that Islamabad High Court (IHC) has a clear direction that whenever the lawyers meet their client at the jail, there must be no camera, guard or mic in the cell.

He said that all political parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and PTI, must sit together to find a solution to political polarisation in the country.

PTI has so far put two key demands in talks with the government. These include the formation of a judicial commission comprising the three most senior judges of the Supreme Court to investigate the May 9, 2023, and November 26, 2024, events, whereas the other demand is to release all political prisoners, including party founder Imran Khan.