Skip to main content

Defence Minister Asif rejects claim of Imran being pressured to accept ‘deal’

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has rejected PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan’s claims that former premier Imran Khan was being pressured to accept a ‘deal’.

In an interview published on Wednesday on Independent Urdu, Asif said, “There is no truth in claims of pressuring Imran Khan to come to the negotiating table.

Speaking to reporters outside the Parliament House on Tuesday, Gohar had first replied in the negative when asked if he had said there was “pressure being exerted for a deal” with Imran: “No, I have not given any such statements”.

“What I have said is that if there is any dialogue or communication, we will not hide it from you all […] Khan sahib himself said that there has been no contact with him [to strike a deal],” he added.

However, Gohar also said: “Another thing we (PTI) are saying is that the way Khan sahib is being kept in jail, the way [Bushra] Bibi has been [jailed], these are all [forms of] pressure that Khan sahib somehow agrees to a deal.

“And these are all pressures that Khan sahib somehow breaks,” the PTI MNA claimed.

Rejecting Gohar’s statements, Asif told Independent Urdu that the PTI was making such statements only to stay relevant.

He added that “reputable people from the PTI had given statements that there was no deal taking place nor was there any contact” for it.

“Now, if such controversial statements would come from the PTI itself, what can we say about it?” the report quoted the PML-N leader as saying.

When asked about relations between the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the Centre, Asif said that the federal government should not be the one to take the “initiative” of ruining the relations.

He highlighted that the March meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, during which he was present, took place in a “very pleasant atmosphere”.

“We would like the province to maintain the same spirit,” Asif told Independent Urdu, adding that the relations “should not deteriorate from our side”.

He further said, “If KP gives an indication of spoiling relations, we will think about what we have to do, but there should be no initiative from our side.”

Regarding the potential implementation of a governor rule there, the defence minister said, “Political forces should avoid such a situation. About this, I will not discuss what the options will be.”



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/rHZBKsp
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Explainer: Iran’s economy faces rocky road amid rising prices, falling currency

Iran’s economy is going through one of its most difficult periods in years, fueled by sanctions, high inflation, and a significant drop in the value of the national currency, the rial. These pressures have had a direct impact on living standards and have also fueled recent protests. The protests began on Dec. 28 in commercial hubs in the capital Tehran, when shopkeepers, merchants, and small business owners staged strikes and demonstrations to protest soaring inflation, the collapsing rial, and deteriorating economic conditions, and have since grown into nationwide anti-government expressions of discontent involving workers, students, and others across multiple cities. The Iranian president said Sunday that his government is determined to address Iran’s economic problems amid the protests. Masoud Pezeshkian said the government admits to “shortcomings and problems” and is working hard to alleviate the people’s concerns, especially on the economy. Currency collapse at the centre of c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mitchell Starc surpasses Wasim Akram as most prolific left-arm pacer in Test history

Australian veteran Mitchell Starc became the most prolific left-arm paceman in Test history on Thursday, surpassing Pakistan great Wasim Akram. The 35-year-old bagged England’s Harry Brook at the Gabba in Brisbane on day one of the day-night second Ashes Test for his 415th wicket since his debut at the same ground 14 years ago. It moved him past Wasim, widely recognised as the greatest left-arm bowler the sport has seen. Wasim played 104 Tests for his 414 wickets with Starc reaching the milestone in his 102nd, helped by a career-best 7-58 in the first innings of the opening Ashes Test at Perth. Starc is now 16th on the all-time wicket-taker list and could move above both India’s Harbhajan Singh (417) and South Africa’s Shaun Pollock (421) in the current pink-ball Test. After that he will have New Zealand’s Richard Hadlee (431) in his sights. from Dawn - Home https://ift.tt/xclHiX2
Post a Comment
Read more

Global reaction to potential Israel-Hezbollah ‘spiral of violence’

World leaders on Tuesday sounded the alarm over fears of a wider conflict after Lebanon suffered its deadliest day in two decades in Israeli air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds. After nearly a year of cross-border fire since the Gaza offensive erupted, Israeli bombardment on Monday killed 558 people in Lebanon, including 50 children, according to the country’s health ministry. The toll — the highest since Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah went to war in mid-2006 — raised fears of an all-out conflict engulfing the Middle East. ‘Tens of thousands’ flee: UN UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “gravely alarmed by the escalating situation… and the large number of civilian casualties, including children and women,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. “Tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes yesterday and overnight, and the numbers continue to grow,” United Nations refugee agency spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh said in Geneva. ‘Spiral of violence’: US Israel’s clo...
Post a Comment
Read more