Islamabad, December 23, 2025: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said that dialogue with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) would only be possible on “legitimate” demands, making it clear that attempts to exert pressure or blackmail under the guise of negotiations would not be tolerated.
Addressing a meeting of the federal cabinet, the prime minister said he was aware that PTI founder Imran Khan and his associates were discussing the possibility of talks. He recalled that he had previously invited PTI leadership for dialogue, including extending an offer from the floor of the National Assembly. However, he stressed that discussions could only take place within constitutional and legal parameters. “Negotiations can only be held on legitimate demands. Blackmailing in the name of dialogue will not work,” the prime minister said.
His remarks came two days after PTI’s jailed founder, Imran Khan, rejected a call for dialogue by opposition alliance leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai. In a message posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account, Imran Khan called on party members to prepare for a street movement, urging the nation to rise for its rights.
PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram later said that the party would follow the direction issued by Imran Khan, adding that the policy line for a protest movement had come directly from the party founder. Akram said that while Mahmood Khan Achakzai was free to pursue his own political initiatives, PTI leaders were bound to act in accordance with Imran Khan’s instructions. He added that the PTI chief had directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister to prepare for a protest movement aimed at upholding the rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution.
Meanwhile, a source close to the federal government said earlier that no meaningful dialogue with PTI would be possible unless the party expressed regret or offered an apology over the May 9 incidents and alleged anti-army campaigns conducted through its social media platforms.
At a national conference of the opposition alliance held on Saturday, Mahmood Khan Achakzai claimed that the Constitution had been “reduced to tatters” and called on former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to take the lead in initiating dialogue to steer the country out of the current political crisis.
