Imran Khan ‘okays’ PTI’s participation in PM’s APC

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan said Friday that his party would participate in the all-parties conference (APC) summoned by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take political parties into confidence over Operation Azm-e-Istehkam.

“My party will participate in the all-parties conference and hear what the government has to say,” the PTI founder told reporters as he appeared in a case at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, where he is imprisoned.

The PTI founder, while noting that his party has reservations over the new anti-terrorism action, said it would “only lead to further instability” in the country.

Recognising the exigency of the security situation, Khan said that the Tehreek-Taliban-Pakistan (TTP) couldn’t be vanquished without improving relations with Afghanistan.

“I am ready to die in jail but I”ll never accept slavery,” he reiterated.

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He further said that he would ask the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government to register the FIRs against former premier Nawaz Sharif, Khawaja Asif and Maryam Nawaz for their inflammatory speeches against state institutions in the past.

With terrorism on the rise, the government has launched a reinvigorated and re-energised national counter-terrorism drive, which would be intelligence-based operations’ focused.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to organise an APC “to gain political parties’ confidence” in newly announced Operation Azm-e-Istehkam.

PM Shehbaz will hold consultations to decide on the date of the APC, the sources said, adding that the date would be announced later.

The federal cabinet last week approved the launching of the counter-terrorism operation following the National Action Plan’s Central Apex Committee’s recommendations to turn up the heat on militants targeting Pakistan.