ISLAMABAD: The chairman of former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Gohar Ali Khan, said on Thursday he had met with the Pakistan army chief, General Syed Asim Munir, capping nearly two years of the party’s unprecedented campaign of defiance against the all-powerful military.
Khan fell out with the military’s top leaders in the lead-up to his ouster from the PM’s office in a parliamentary no-trust vote in April 2022, and his party has since led large street movements, railing against the generals’ iron grip on politics and even blaming senior military officials for an assassination bid on Khan in November 2022. The army denies the allegations.
Tensions between the PTI and the army have remained at fever-pitch especially after Khan’s brief arrest on May 9, 2023, in a land graft case that sparked countrywide protests, with PTI supporters attacking and ransacking military installations in an unprecedented backlash against the army. The military has called the day of the protests a “Black Day” and vowed to punish those involved. Since then, at least 5,000 of Khan’s supporters have been arrested, and dozens of his top party leaders have defected after they faced increasing pressure from the military establishment to do so, according to his supporters. The army denies interfering in politics.
In various press conferences, the military has denied any contact with the PTI and said that it would not talk to the masterminds of the May 9 protests. But Pakistani media has recently widely reported on a meeting this Monday between Army Chief Munir and PTI leaders Gohar and Ali Amin Gandapur, the chief minister of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the PTI has been in power since 2013.
“Yes, I [Gohar Ali Khan] did meet him [army chief],” Gohar told reporters on Wednesday after he met with Khan at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail where the PTI founder has been in prison since 2023. “See, wherever and for whatever reason I hold meetings, I talk about it only after I have instructions from Khan,” Gohar added, justifying his earlier denial of the meeting with Munir.
He said Khan had described the development as “very welcoming” and said negotiations were “important for the country’s stability.”
“Our doors were always open for negotiations, other people’s doors were closed,” Gohar said, quoting Khan from their meeting. “If negotiations go ahead, it will bring stability in the country.”
The PTI chairman’s disclosure comes as a government negotiation committee and the PTI held a third round of talks on Thursday afternoon in which the party presented its two main demands in writing: the release of all political prisoners and the establishment of judicial commissions to investigate protests led by the PTI on May 9, 2023, and Nov. 26, 2024, in which its supporters are accused of violence and arson.
The first round of talks took place on Dec. 23 and the second on Jan. 2.
The talks opened last month as Khan had threatened a civil disobedience movement and amid growing concerns he could face trial by a military court for allegedly inciting attacks on sensitive security installations during the May 9 protests.
Khan’s ouster in 2022 has since plunged the country into a long-term political crisis, particularly since the PTI founder was jailed in August last year on corruption and other charges and remains behind bars. Khan and the PTI say the charges are trumped up to keep them out of power.
Imran Khan’s party chairman confirms first official meeting with Pakistan army chief
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Imran Khan’s party chairman confirms first official meeting with Pakistan army chief
- Meeting caps nearly two years of the PTI’s unprecedented campaign of defiance against the all-powerful military
- Tensions between PTI and the army have remained at fever-pitch since Khan was ousted from PM’s office in April 2022
