Regretting the government’s failure to constitute judicial commissions within the seven-day deadline, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Gohar Ali Khan clarified on Tuesday that his party was not holding dialogue with any other quarter.

“It’s unfortunate that talks could not proceed further. We sat with the government with an open heart. Our demand was that the judicial commission should be announced within seven days,” Gohar said talking to media outside the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi.

He said the negotiations would have moved forward, had judicial commissions been formed.

The PTI and the ruling coalition have been engaged in talks aimed at defusing political tensions in the country for nearly a month. Both sides have held three rounds of talks so far.

However, the dialogue process hit a snag as the Khan-founded party quit negotiations over the government’s failure to form the judicial commissions to probe the May 9, 2023 violent protests and a crackdown on party protesters in Islamabad on November 26 last year, within seven days, as per their demands.

The PTI chief said his party has been striving for the rule of democracy and Constitution for 27 years. He said they were maintaining contacts with political parties in this regard as they wanted to take all the stakeholders into confidence over the 26th Constitutional Amendment as well as independent judiciary.

Gohar said they would make every effort including protest for the formation of judicial commission.

On speculations about Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur’s role in the party after Junaid Akbar replaced him as the party’s KP president, the PTI chairman apprised media that the party founder dismissed rumours about Gandapur as false.

“The party founder said Ali Amin Gandapur himself came to him and said he was not getting enough sleep due to heavy work load,” he said, adding that the post of party’s provincial president was changed on the KP chief minister’s recommendation.

The PTI founding chairman had categorically stated that disinformation was being disseminated against Gandapur, he maintained.

Moreover, he said the party had zero tolerance policy on corruption.

On the other hand, speaking to media outside the Supreme Court, PTI Senator Hamid Khan said the PTI would hold a of series conventions in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi.

“We will hold protests and conventions,” he said, adding their struggle was constitutional and they had multiple options with them.

Struggle for every organisation would not be of low scale, hence the lawyers should mentally be prepared, he said.

Hamid said the PTI and the common men would finally have the last laugh in this struggle.