Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, currently jailed in Pakistan, has expressed readiness for “conditional negotiations” with the country’s military and has appointed a representative for talks. One of the conditions set by Khan for negotiations is the demand for clean and transparent elections and for the dropping of what he calls “bogus” cases against his supporters. The army, which has ruled Pakistan for nearly half of its history, has not yet commented on Khan’s offer.
Khan’s government has accused him of requesting talks with the military and urged him to apologize for previous attacks on the institution. Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar labeled Khan’s offer as a “conspiracy against the country” and accused him of attempting to involve state institutions in his “dirty politics”.
Khan and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), believe that the charges against him are politically motivated to prevent his return to power. Despite being in jail and fighting multiple cases, candidates backed by PTI had a strong showing in this year’s election. Police raided the PTI headquarters in Islamabad in July, following government promises to ban the main opposition party believed to be backed by the military. Recent court rulings in favor of PTI have dealt blows to the government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has criticized attempts to ban PTI as undemocratic, while a UN panel found Khan’s detention to be baseless and aimed at disqualifying him from running for office. Khan and PTI’s political future in Pakistan remains uncertain as tensions between the government and opposition continue to simmer.
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