ISLAMABAD, SEP 21: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar has claimed that contacts with relevant people at the federal level have been “ongoing since last night”, adding that the party has conveyed its message regarding the recent arrests.
Barrister Gohar’s remarks came as the PTI prepares for a nationwide protest and march towards Islamabad on September 27, demanding the release of its incarcerated founder Imran Khan and supremacy of the Constitution.
The Imran Khan-founded party has maintained that it will proceed with its planned protest, with preparations for the mobilisation continuing across the country.
Speaking to the media in Peshawar, the PTI chairman said that the party had urged the relevant authorities to refrain from taking such measures, warning that the treatment being meted out to the former premier’s family members and party leaders was regrettable.
He said further arrests would aggravate the situation and stressed that the time had come to prevent conditions from deteriorating further. He also emphasised the need to reduce tensions.
Meanwhile, following Aleema Khan, Imran Khan’s sisters, Noreen Niazi and Uzma Khan, have also been placed under detention and transferred to Kot Lakhpat Jail for 30 days.
A petition has also been filed in the Lahore High Court challenging Aleema’s detention.
Earlier in the day, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the government will adopt a permanent strategy to handle the planned march, warning that the country will not be allowed to remain shut for 10 to 20 days due to demonstrations.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Naqvi said the government would take measures “once and for all” to prevent a repeat of such situations.
‘Dialogue viable path out of current national crisis’
Meanwhile, the Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayin-e-Pakistan condemned the arrest of Aleema, saying that first Imran was “unjustly” kept in jail, and now the women of his family are also being “targeted for political revenge”.
In a statement, the TTAP also strongly condemned the arrests of parliamentarians, political workers, and ordinary citizens, as well as the blocking of highways by placing containers, and stated that responding to peaceful political activities with arrests, obstructions, and state repression is tantamount to further deteriorating the country’s political environment.
Senate Leader of Opposition Allama Raja Nasir Abbas said that dialogue remains the only viable path out of the current national crisis.
He urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to constitute a committee of political figures, proposing that negotiation teams from both the government and opposition sides sit down together to work out a solution.
The Senate Opposition Leader noted that even the most complex global conflicts are eventually resolved at the negotiation table, adding that genuine progress can be achieved if political leadership engages directly.
Reiterating the opposition’s readiness to engage, Senator Raja Nasir stressed that negotiations must be meaningful and involve empowered individuals with the authority to make decisions.
He stated that the opposition’s doors for talks remain open, whether the government chooses to sit down today or in the future, maintaining that when political leaders engage in dialogue, solutions to the nation’s current difficulties will inevitably emerge.
