‘Let’s sit down and talk’: Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif extends olive branch to Imran Khan

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday extended an olive branch to his predecessor and political rival Imran Khan, offering to hold talks with him if he was facing “troubles” in jail.

Khan, the founder of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, has been in jail since August last year after being convicted in some of the nearly 200 cases slapped on the 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician since his ouster from power in April 2022.

“If their [PTI] founder is facing troubles [in jail], then I reiterate: come, let’s sit down and talk,” Sharif said while addressing the National Assembly.

“Let us sit together to take the country ahead. Let us talk for the betterment of the country. There is no other way forward,” he said.

Sharif’s olive branch to Imran came a day after his advisor indicated to keep Khan in jail for an indefinite period.

Sharif’s political advisor Rana Sanaullah said during a TV interview that the government would like to keep Khan in jail as long as possible.

“A new case can be registered. If searched here and there, some new cases can come up. There should be an effort, and it will be, that the longer he is kept as a guest (in jail) the better it will be,” was the response of Sanullah when asked if Khan would be released after bail in the final conviction against him.

The Nawaz Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have been at loggerheads for years, particularly after the February 8 elections, which Khan’s party claims it had won.

Commenting on the 2018 elections won by Khan’s PTI, Sharif said: “We joined Parliament despite the [rigged] polls. The sort of slogans that were raised during my first speech will always be remembered as a dark chapter in the history books.”