Dialogue could not take place until a positive environment: Fawad Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: Former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry on Monday said that the political dialogue could not take place until a positive environment for talks.

Talking in ARY News morning show “Bakhabar Sawera” former PTI minister said that Rana Sana and Ayaz Sadiq should tell us who will sit in the talks on behalf of the PTI.

“Current PTI leadership don’t know the PTI’s founder, neither the party founder knows them,” Fawad Chaudhry said.

“Keeping political temperature high only brings loss for the country,” he said.

“We are advising the government to release the Kot Lakhpat prisoners. They could talk and convince the PTI’s founder,” Chaudhry said.

Earlier, in December Fawad Chaudhry revealed that a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was on the horizon to discuss the issue of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder, who remains incarcerated.

Speaking on ARY News programme The Reporters, Fawad Chaudhry said discussions had taken place with government circles who wanted political tensions to ease. He said the issue surrounding Imran Khan has both political and non-political dimensions, adding that the government has been unable to counter the PTI founder’s narrative effectively.

Fawad stated that contacts exist with both the government and PTI’s senior leadership, stressing that a conducive environment for dialogue must be created first.

He said the leadership capable of holding talks is currently imprisoned in Kot Lakhpat Jail, while figures such as Salman Akram Raja and Barrister Gohar neither have direct coordination with Imran Khan nor meaningful engagement from his side.

He suggested that progress is only possible if the government takes a step forward and the PTI founder takes a step back.