ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Friday expressed his reluctance to hold peace talks with Taliban saying he lacks authority to do so.
Speaking at a press conference, Khan said he cannot hold talks with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as neither his party is in power at the centre nor he has any authority over the services.
“What powers we have because of which we are being asked to hold talks?” he asked referring to the government’s proposal that Imran Khan and other leaders should hold talks with Taliban.
He said the All Parties Conference (APC) held on September 9 gave mandate to the government to hold talks with the militants. The US drone attack (that killed former TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud) sabotaged these talks, he remarked.
The PTI chief said the United States got isolated due to resolution of the United Nations General Assembly against the drone attacks.
He asked the government to hold another APC to tell political leaders what efforts had been made for negotiations with Taliban in the previous weeks.
The PTI chief said Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak wanted to meet with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to discuss issues of the province which was the most affected due to terrorist attacks.
Blaming the government for the resignation of former Nadra chief Tariq Malik, he said Malik was removed by the government’s undue pressure, preventing him to make poll rigging public.
He alleged that the former Nadra chief was removed in the wake of the issue of thumb impressions’ verification being raised by the PTI.
The cricketer-turned-politician urged the Supreme Court to reveal ‘actual reasons’ behind Tariq Malik’s resignation.
The PTI chief threatened to take to the streets if his party’s reservations were not addressed by the government.