Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan has said his party is ready to hold “conditional negotiations” with the country’s powerful military and has appointed a representative for the talks.
“We will hold conditional negotiations if the military leadership appoints its representative,” according to a post from Khan’s official X page on Wednesday, which cited a message from him from inside a jail on Tuesday.
Khan said one of the conditions for negotiations was that “clean and transparent” elections be held and that what he called “bogus” cases against his supporters be dropped.
He appointed Mahmood Khan Achakzai, a close political ally and leader in a smaller party, to represent him in talks.
The army, which has directly ruled Pakistan for nearly half of its 76-year history but denies involvement in politics, has not commented on the offer yet.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government accused Khan of “pleading” for talks with the army and asked him to instead apologise for his previous attacks on the institution, according to local media reports.
“The self-proclaimed revolutionary who used to say that he won’t ask for forgiveness, has come down to pleading to the armed forces to talk to him,” Marriyum Aurangzeb of the governing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party said in a statement.
Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar called Khan’s offer a “conspiracy against the country” and another attempt by the PTI founder to drag state institutions into his “dirty politics”.
Khan has been in jail since last August and was convicted in some cases ahead of a national election in February. He is also fighting dozens of other cases which are continuing.
Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party say the charges were politically motivated to thwart his return to power.
Candidates backed by PTI had a stronger-than-expected showing in this year’s election and a court recently ruled they were eligible for extra reserved seats, though still not enough to rule outright.
On July 22, police raided the PTI headquarters in capital Islamabad, a week after Sharif’s government, believed to be backed by the military, promised to ban the main opposition party.
Earlier this month, an Islamabad judge overturned Khan’s illegal marriage conviction while the Supreme Court awarded PTI more parliamentary seats – a move set to make it the largest party in the National Assembly.
Both cases were considered a major blow to Sharif, who seized a parliamentary majority after the February election by forming a coalition.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan called the attempt to ban PTI “an enormous blow to democratic norms” and said it “reeks of political desperation”.
A United Nations panel of experts found this month that Khan’s detention “had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office”.
