That PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan and CM Ali Amin Gandapur met with Chief of Army Staff Gen Asim Munir was conceded, but it does not seem to have brought PTI founding chairman Imran Khan any relief in the Al-Qadir University reference, involving the alleged benefit of £190 million being given to a real estate tycoon in return for a plot of land. Though Mr Khan had expressed pleasure at the meeting, the verdict in the case, which had been postponed from December 18, when it was first reserved. The three deferrals have been made for dates coming a few days after the various meetings scheduled of the PTI-government talks committee. The verdict was now announced, with both Imran and his wife Bushra Bibi (who was convicted of accepting a diamond ring for intervening in the matter) have been sentenced to 14 years and seven year’s imprisonment respectively.
Meanwhile, the PTI negotiators handed over a charter of demands to the PML(N) which was more or less entirely what was anticipated: it demanded the release of all political prisoners (by grant of bails by the non-PTI provincial governments), the setting up of commissions to the 9 May 2023 and 26 November 2024 incidents. It is perhaps positive that the negotiators have taken up the most contentious, before moving on to such issues as the restoration of the Constitution or the results of last year’s polls. The government has seven days to reply, and the earlier indications are that the government will object strenuously to the setting up of inquiry commissions on the ground that both events are sub judice, and thus outside the scope of the courts. On the other hand, PTI negotiating team member Sahibzada Hamid Reza has said that the commissions are a deal-breaker, in that their being set up will determine whether the negotiations are to continue. It might be remembered that on 9 May 2023, PTI workers are said to have attacked military installations, including martyrs’ memorials, while on November 26, the PTI accuses the military of having fired on its workers.
While clearing the air might be important, the COAS showed appropriate correctness in his meeting with the PTI leaders. It has been clarified that the meeting was about the security situation, and that when Barrister Gohr tied to raise political issues, General Munir replied that such issues should be raised at political forums. The ongoing PTI attempt to draw the military back into politics clearly does not seem to be working.
