PESHAWAR/ LAHORE       -   The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has declined the invitation from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to participate in the apex committee meeting in Peshawar to discuss the Peshawar mosque tragedy. “The PTI leadership has decided that the party would not participate in the apex committee,” disclosed PTI Spokesperson Shaukat Yousafzai while giving reaction to the PM’s invitation to the party. Meanwhile, PTI Secretary General Asad Umar also disclosed that their party chief Imran Khan has decided not to attend the All Parties Conference (APC) convened by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on February 7 to discuss ways to overcome the current national challenges particularly rising terrorism and weak economy.

Asad Umar was talking to media outside the Lahore High Court (LHC) where he had come to attend the hearing of his petition seeking announcement of date for elections in Punjab.  “How we can sit with the government when it is violating the Constitution, registering sedition cases against us and arresting our people,” the former planning minister said.

The PTI leader also accused the government of deliberately creating confusion in holding elections, adding that Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman was not ready to give a date for elections in the province.

He hoped that the election date would be decided by Thursday. Prime Minister Shehbaz has called an APC on February 7 and invited all the national political leaders, including Imran Khan, to mull on the growing threat of extremism and terrorism. The prime minister’s decision to summon the APC to discuss ways to overcome the current national challenges and invite all national-level political leaders, including the PTI chief, has come days after the Peshawar police lines carnage, which snuffed more than 100 lives when a suicide bomber blew himself up during noon prayers inside a mosque.