Let’s sit down and talk to sort out problems being faced by Imran in jail, says Shehbaz Sharif in his brief speech in National Assembly. Regrets his repeated offers for talks never responded in positive manner. Leader of Opposition says his PTI party will consider talks offer only after release of Imran, party workers from jail. Omar Ayub urges govt to realises wrongdoings.

ISLAMABAD   -  Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday invited the opposition political parties to join heads for a dialogue to discuss the ways to take country ahead.

“ Let’s sit together to take the country ahead. Let us talk for the betterment of the country. There is no other way forward,” the prime minister said in a brief speech in the National Assembly. He recalled that in the past too, he had invited the political parties to evolve a consensus on a Charter of Economy but that idea was ridiculed just for political point scoring.

The prime minister also recounted his ordeal of facing victimisation and that he was in jail when his mother passed away. He said that despite being a cancer survivor and with a backbone issue, he used to be taken to courts on the ordinary prison van just to exacerbate the condition, but he never complained.

Prime Minister Shehbaz said that other PML-N leaders also faced humiliating treatment despite being the under-trial prisoners. But he said, having faced all the victimisation, he would never desire his political adversaries to face a similar situation. Responding to the points raised by Ali Muhammad Khan on cut motions in the National Assembly, the PM regretted that his repeated offers for the Charter of Economy following the 2018 elections were never responded in a positive manner. The prime minister lamented the bitterness in politics and questioned who is responsible for it.

Addressing NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Shehbaz said: “If there are any problems [PTI’s] founder is facing in jail, then [let’s] talk about them. “Once again I say today, come, let’s sit and talk, and we can sort out the problems.”

The prime minister also highlighted that justice must always be delivered, whether to a political leader or an individual from any walk of life. In response to the Shehbaz’s call for dialogue, PTI leader Omar Ayub said conversation would take place once Imran Khan and party workers are released from jail.

“[This] understanding will be reached once the government realises the wrongdoings,” Ayub said while speaking in the NA.

During the session, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was seen interacting with female parliamentarians as well. He expressed regret over the current political bitterness, pointing out that while he was in the opposition, he had proposed talks with Imran Khan, only to be met with hostility.

In response to Sharif’s call for dialogue, Omar Ayub, leader of the opposition in the National Assembly and a prominent PTI figure, also stated that his party would consider negotiations with the government only after the release of Imran Khan and other detained PTI members. He highlighted the harsh treatment of PTI workers, particularly noting the extreme conditions female workers faced in detention. “You torture our workers, you’ve kept our lady workers in prison vans at 45°C. My prime minister Imran Khan was kept in a death cell, there’s an oven-like environment over there,” Ayub remarked.

 Despite the uproar caused by his comments, Ayub insisted that reconciliation could only occur if government members acknowledged and addressed the mistreatment of PTI leaders such as Yasmin Rashid, Mehmoodur Rasheed, and Hassan Niazi. He also contrasted the conditions faced by Nawaz Sharif in prison, where he had air conditioning, with the harsh conditions faced by Imran Khan.