Pakistan Govt welcomes comprehensive dialogue with PTI

ATLANTA (Pajhwok): The Minister for Defence of Pakistan Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Friday said the government was ready to hold a comprehensive dialogue with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The government would not oblige by entering into any transactional dialogue with the opposition, as nothing would come out of it, he said. APP reported.

Addressing a news conference with the foreign media flanked by the Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Marriyum Aurangzeb, the Defence Minister briefed the foreign correspondents on the so-called PTI narrative and subversions of the constitution.

Khawaja Asif said, “We assumed this govt almost a year back. We are completing one year in power as a result of the successful vote of no confidence against the then government.”

“To prevent that vote of no confidence different unconstitutional actions were taken by Imran Khan’s government and his collaborators were the President and Deputy Speaker.”

He added that around midnight the decisions of dissolution of the assembly and other decisions were overturned by the Supreme Court.

“That fateful night the constitution was undermined and violated and thankfully Supreme Court intervened and set things right and we are in the government today,” he added.

The Minister said a lot had happened over the last year in the political journey of the opposition. “Imran Khan’s political journey started with a cypher.

Today Shireen Mazari has written a letter to the US raising the issue of so-called human rights violations in Pakistan. Media reported.

This is the same country which was accused of conspiracy against Pakistan and Imran Khan’s government. The same people are asking for help from the alleged perpetrators of the foreign conspiracy.

This is the sum total of Imran Khan’s political journey. His dismissal from the government and SOS to the US,” he said.

The Minister maintained that nowhere in the world an accused had ever refused to appear in court. “Imran Khan refused to appear in the courts on different pretexts and security reasons or reasons of being victimized.

And then his appearance is accepted in the court while he still sits in the car and he actually attacks the courts or the courts are mocked by his supports,” he added.

Khawaja Asif alleged that every time he appeared in the courts, the judiciary was intimidated.

He informed that when the police team was sent to his residence to arrest him and produce him in the court, adding, “The police were attacked as a result at least 70 to 80 police officers, including senior officers, were injured trying to arrest him. They pitched battle outside his (Imran Khan’s) house. This has never happened in Pakistan.”

The Minister said during his (Imran Khan) regime and in the past also opposition workers and leaders were arrested and they always submitted in a very graceful, and dignified manner as political workers. “They never contested their arrest physically, never abused and maligned the courts.

During the last four years of his (Imran Khan) rule as Prime Minister, almost the whole of the top leadership of PML-N was arrested.”

“Our leader Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif got arrested when he came back from the UK to surrender, his daughter, sons and nephews were arrested. But they never resisted their arrest.”

Khawaja Asif noted that the coalition government was governing the country under circumstances which were pretty difficult both administratively and financially and ultimately politically as well.

“This is the backdrop in which we are at the moment governing the country and trying to give the best. We do realise that the political capital we had when we took over or when moved the vote of no confidence has depleted. We paid a cost for it,” he added.

He said the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM-a coalition of 11 political parties) had the option after the dissolution of the assembly or after the vote of no confidence to dissolve the assembly and go for new elections.

“But we were in the middle of negotiating arrangement with the IMF and an interim government perhaps could not do that as effectively as the elected government in power and it was a difficult decision and we decided to risk our political capital and stayed in the government. Despite the fact that we knew the risk of losing the political capital was there,” he added.

JHK