Pakistan PM forms committee to review Imran Khan’s party demands

Islamabad : Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed a committee comprising members from all ruling parties to review demands submitted by the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said PM’s aide on political affairs Rana Sanaullah on Thursday.

Flanked by the government’s negotiation committee head Senator Irfan Siddiqui, Sanaullah addressed a press conference in Islamabad to brief the media on a meeting between the PTI and the government’s negotiation committees.

Earlier today, the PTI finally presented its demands in writing, seeking probes into the May 9, 2023, and November 26, 2024 events, as well as the release of “political prisoners”.

PTI’s ‘Charter of Demands’, available with Geo News, also mentions that if the government fails to constitute two separate commissions on the violent events, the party will not continue the negotiations.

The third meeting between the Imran Khan-founded PTI and the government was held at the Parliament House under National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq’s leadership, where the demands were presented.

Sanaullah said the committee would review and respond to PTI’s demands.

Sanaullah said the committee will review and respond to PTI’s demands.

“For now, I am presenting the initial opinion on the demands,” said Sanaullah adding that the PTI demanded the release of its “political prisoners” and party founder Imran Khan.

Speaking about the PTI demands to form the chief justice-led probe commission on May 9, 2023, violent protests and the November 26, 2024, crackdown on the party workers, Sanaullah said both matters had already been investigated.

“An inquiry cannot be opened again on their demands while it [matters] is already in the courts,” he said.

The PM’s aide also rubbished the PTI’s claims that “hundreds of its workers were killed and went missing” following the November 26 crackdown on the demonstrators in Islamabad’s D-Chowk area last year.

“They could not even figure out as to how many of their workers were missing or injured in two and a half months. If hundreds of their workers had gone missing, their families would have staged a sit-in at D-Chowk,” he added.

Moreover, Sanaullah said the PTI did not even provide any details of its “political prisoners” or missing or killed workers. “It is hoped that the decision of the £190 million case against the PTI founder and his wife will be announced tomorrow,” he said.

PTI demands

The party has demanded that the government form two commissions, comprising the Chief Justice of Pakistan or three serving judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, mutually nominated by the PTI and the government within seven days.

“The conduct of the proceedings of the two commissions must be open to the general public as well as the media,” the party mentioned in the document.

The PTI has called upon the federal government, as well as the governments of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan to support, in accordance with the law, the grant of bail or orders suspending the conviction and sentence of all political prisoners.

The party said that it would identify the political prisoners, who were arrested following the events of May 9 and November 24 to 24 or any other political event elsewhere.

It also sought support for those who have been convicted and whose appeals or revisions are presently pending before a court of law.

The PTI has overall outlined a total of 22 key before before the government, specifically putting forward five demands concerning the formation of two inquiry commissions.

The party presented nine demands in connection with the first inquiry commission, and seven demands related to the second commission.

Among the demands are the release of political activists arrested nationwide and the suspension of their sentences. — (Geo News)