Jailed PTI leaders urge leadership to begin 'dialogue process'

• Detained leaders also urge for talks with “powerful quarters”.
• Demand inclusion in dialogue process.
• Seek PTI leaders easier access to Imran Khan.
  

LAHORE: Incarcerated senior leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have written a joint letter to the party leadership, urging to kick-start political dialogue to end the ongoing “instability” in the country.

The letter, signed by Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Mian Mehmood ur Rasheed, Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhry, and Omar Sarfraz Cheema, stressed that negotiations are the only way out of resolving the political crisis.

Several PTI leaders, including its founder Imran Khan, have been behind bars for nearly a year. Many of them are facing charges mainly stemming from the May 9 protests — in which state installations, including the Jinnah House, were attacked.

In the letter, available with Geo News, the jailed leaders have proposed that dialogue should not be limited to political stakeholders but should also include engagement with “powerful quarters.”

They further recommended that access to the party’s patron-in-chief be made easier to help form a negotiation committee.

The letter also suggested that detained leaders be included in the dialogue process and underscored that talks should be ongoing rather than treated as a one-time effort.

May 9 mayhem

A large number of workers and supporters of PTI staged almost countrywide demonstrations on May 9, 2023 — when the PTI founding chairman was arrested by paramilitary troops on the directions of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in connection with an alleged corruption case.

The demonstrators destroyed public and private properties, attacked military installations — the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi and the Lahore Corps Commander's House (Jinnah House) — and ransacked relics of martyrs.

Following the incidents, the civil and military leadership resolved to give exemplary punishment under the relevant laws including Army Act to all those involved in hooliganism, arson, ransacking of public and private properties, attacking sensitive military installations and desecration of martyrs’ monuments on May 9.

The deposed prime minister, who was ousted from power via the opposition's no-confidence motion in April 2022, has been facing a slew of charges ranging from corruption to terrorism since his removal as premier.

Khan has been behind bars since August 2023 after he was sentenced in multiple cases ahead of the February 8 elections.