Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan has said that the environment for backdoor contacts is currently somewhat cold, stressing that dialogue should take place and matters should move in a positive direction.
Speaking to the media at the Dahgal checkpoint on Adiala Road, Barrister Gohar said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi received considerable public appreciation during his visit to Lahore. However, he termed the failure to provide security to the KP chief minister in Lahore regrettable.
He said Sohail Afridi, who is the chief minister of a province, was made to sit in a vehicle and was dropped at a square. Barrister Gohar said the police should not have taken even a single step forward in such circumstances and warned that treating a provincial chief minister in this manner would increase hatred.
He called on the Punjab chief minister and Punjab Police to apologise for the conduct, saying that providing security to a chief minister visiting another province was the responsibility of the provincial institutions. He added that taking the chief minister even a short distance in a police vehicle was an act of humiliation and said that what happened in Lahore the previous night was wrong.
Barrister Gohar reiterated that PTI was peaceful and would always remain peaceful, saying that the party was seeking its rights and justice.
Regarding PTI founder Imran Khan’s health, Barrister Gohar said the Supreme Court had issued an order under which the former prime minister was to be shifted to a hospital and a medical board was to be constituted in accordance with court directions, but the order had not been implemented.
He said PTI had filed contempt of court petitions in the Supreme Court. According to Barrister Gohar, criminal cases were always heard by the Supreme Court, but Imran Khan’s health issue had been turned into a constitutional crisis.
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He urged that the health matter should not be “thrown like a football” from one court to another. He said if the Constitutional Court intended to call the case before itself, it should not have adjourned the matter for an indefinite period. Barrister Gohar said PTI disagreed with the Constitutional Court and believed it should not have taken up the case.
Barrister Gohar said political issues should always be resolved through political means and called for positive steps to reduce tensions. He said there were currently no negotiations with the government and that the environment was cold.
He claimed that PTI had significant popularity and said a large number of people would come on September 27. Referring to Sher Afzal Marwat, he said Marwat would be following his party’s line and that notice should not have been issued on his petition.
Barrister Gohar said the question of who would or would not become chief minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was a political matter. He said courts did not decide academic questions and that it was an established principle that courts also did not hear political questions.
He said PTI’s founder remained the head of the party and that it was the founder who had appointed Ali Amin Gandapur and Sohail Afridi as chief ministers.
Barrister Gohar said the thinking of the country and nation should have changed after May 2025. He said Pakistan’s defence had become invincible in May 2025 and that the world had witnessed Pakistan as a strong defence power. He added that political and economic stability should now also come to the country.
The PTI chairman further alleged that raids were being conducted at the homes of party workers and that police had established camps outside the homes of PTI leadership in Punjab. He said the homes of PTI leaders in Punjab had been sealed and their electricity disconnected, warning that such measures would further worsen the political environment.
Barrister Gohar also said PTI supported Jamaat-e-Islami’s protest and march against inflation. He clarified that the PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami marches would be separate, adding that the Jamaat-e-Islami emir had said PTI would not participate in its march but would attend the All Parties Conference.
