Barrister Gohar calls for release of political prisoners

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan announced on Wednesday that his party would formally submit its demands in writing to the government’s negotiation team.

Speaking outside a sessions court in the federal capital, Barrister Gohar emphasised the importance of genuine dialogue and said: "The third session of our negotiations with the government will take place tomorrow [and] we will submit our written demands".

"If the government engages with sincerity and seriousness, solutions to these issues can be found. Democracy and political stability require the release and relief of political prisoners [....] We hope this process will conclude soon and bring good news," he remarked.

The PTI chief's remarks come as the two sides — who have held two dialogue sessions on December 27, 2024, and January 2, 2025 — are set to meet again on Thursday (tomorrow) in the third round of talks summoned by National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq at 11:30am in the Parliament House.

The much-awaited development came after the former ruling party's negotiation committee met incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan in Rawalpindi's Adiala jail which paved the way for the third PTI-govt meeting which had seemingly hit a snag owing to the former's inability to meet the ex-prime minister.

The PTI, which has demanded the release of political prisoners and the formation of a judicial commission for probing the May 9 riots and the November 26 protests, has set the January 31 time frame for the ongoing negotiations to reach a "logical conclusion" — something Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political and Public Affairs Rana Sanaullah has said that the former ruling party should extend to February 28.

The party, which finally secured Khan's approval to continue talks with the government and present their demands in writing last week, has also warned that negotiations might collapse and a fourth round of talks was highly unlikely if a judicial commission was not formed after the third negotiation session.

Elaborating on the parleys with the government, Barrister Gohar expressed optimism regarding the dialogue process while lamenting that the PTI founder was targeted and was a political prisoner who "deserved" to be freed.

On the issue of PTI workers' death in last year's protest in November, the party chairman said that had earlier mentioned the tragic loss of 12 party members and injuries to 49 others in recent incidents, however, two more injured individuals had succumbed to their injuries, and their data would also be submitted to the court.

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