By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party has flatly refused to join an emergency closed-door government briefing on Pakistan’s worsening security threats, insisting that any participation is conditional on a meeting with its imprisoned founder and former prime minister.
The decision, taken by the PTI’s political committee on Tuesday, came only hours after the ruling PML-N-led coalition extended a rare olive branch, urging the opposition to set aside its grievances and attend the in-camera session convened by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah had met the oppositions’ parliamentary leaders – Mehmood Achakzai in the National Assembly and Raja Nasir Abbas in the Senate – to deliver Sharif’s personal invitation. The briefing, scheduled for 11.30am on Wednesday at the prime minister’s office, was framed as a discussion on “Afghan regime-backed terrorism against Pakistan” and the rapidly evolving situation involving Iran.
But PTI sources confirmed the party will not attend unless the government first arranges direct access to Khan, who has been in prison since August 2023. The precondition mirrors the party’s consistent stance on major national issues: no dialogue without the involvement or release of its founder. After the meeting with the opposition figures, Sanaullah and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry briefed reporters at Parliament House.
Sanaullah said the prime minister had reached out to the heads of all parliamentary parties, including PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, because “we need their opinion and guidance” on the regional crises. He made clear, however, that the government was not prepared to negotiate preconditions in advance. “Neither [do] we have any condition, nor [do] we accept any condition of any other side,” Sanaullah said. “We are inviting the parties for a specific cause that they have to give importance, keeping aside their political objectives.” He added that deadlock served no one and that the PTI could raise any issue once at the table. “No benefit will go to PTI if it refuses the dialogue process,” he warned.
Chaudhry appealed for statesmanship. “The prevailing fragile situation requires that all parties think above their political affiliations and interests and attend the huddle,” he told journalists. The government’s overture reflects mounting anxiety in Islamabad over cross-border militancy and the risk of wider regional instability.
Earlier on Tuesday, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar told the National Assembly that parliamentary leaders were being summoned to “sit down and develop a course of action so we can move forward”. He spoke of “sensitivities we have to take into account” and matters “you cannot discuss openly”, citing Pakistan’s delicate relations with Iran and its longstanding defence pact with Saudi Arabia.
Separately, Sharif met a delegation from coalition partner Pakistan People’s Party, including Senator Sherry Rehman, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Syed Naveed Qamar and Aijaz Jakhrani, to discuss both the domestic political temperature and regional developments. The PPP group was also invited to Wednesday’s session.
Sanaullah disclosed that Sharif and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir were personally using their influence to push for de-escalation in the US-Israel conflict with Iran. “We are quite hopeful for success in this,” he said. The government’s last-minute attempt at cross-party consensus on national security has so far foundered on the same rock that has blocked previous initiatives: the fate of Imran Khan. Whether PTI maintains its boycott when the briefing begins on Wednesday morning will determine whether Pakistan’s fractured political class can present even a semblance of unity at a moment of genuine external threat.
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