The PTI on Sunday denied opting to engage in dialogue with the government as an underdog but said that it will do so “after ensuring a level-playing field is provided to it through street movements“, according to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and the PTI Secretary-General, Salman Akram Raja.

CM Afridi, along with other provincial ministers and members of the assembly, was in Lahore to launch a new street movement, as per the directives of incarcerated party founder Imran Khan. He left for the motorway at about 6:40pm.

In a discussion with senior journalists at a private residence in Lahore’s Defence Housing Authority earlier in the day, Afridi asserted that reconciliation was impossible without resistance.

“We will be at a loss if we enter into dialogue without resistance. So, the protest movement will continue until the rulers come to the table after recognising the opposition as an equal partner,” he said.

Responding to a question whether the party had perpetually been protesting without yielding any result, CM Afridi said, “This time, we will not make tall claims but do practical work and come up with a positive output.“

Secretary-General Raja said no political party could go into a blind alley.

“We are seeing that the government want the PTI to neither speak about its election fraud, the release of incarcerated party founder Imran Khan, nor question institutions’ interference in politics and journalism. Then what should we do?”

Raja said reconciliation and dialogue could only begin when the “basic principles” would be agreed – otherwise the party would take to the streets to get these principles accepted.

Following the meeting with journalists, CM Afridi visited the residences of party leaders Mirza Afridi, but was stopped from entering the Lahore cantonment area, where he had plans to meet the families of incarcerated former Punjab governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema and advocate Hassan Niazi.

The KP CM said he had been stopped as they had made (cantonement) a no-go area. “I have asked whether Pakistan’s territory ended here and another country’s land started.”

“The Punjab government should not have behaved in such a harsh manner with the chief minister of a province. This has all been happening with me for the past three consecutive days,” he lamented.

“I have been asking to go to the party leaders’ residences in the cantonment but was told that I was not permitted,” he said and demanded that he be given a reason “in writing” as to why he was stopped.

“The KP CM is also ready to go without his gunmen and KP police, but is still not being allowed,” Salman Akram Raja said.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had offered talks with the opposition but also emphasised that dialogue between the two sides could only proceed on “legitimate matters”.

‘Street movement failed to attract public’: Azma

On the other hand, Punjab Information Minister, Azma Bokhari, ridiculed the PTI’s street movement, saying its reality was “exposed in daylight after social media hype overnight.”

In a statement on X, Bokhari remarked that PTI supporters were celebrating by sharing images of Bangladesh since last night, claiming that the so-called street movement failed to attract any public response during the day.
She said there was no one even to respond to the slogans raised by the protesters. Taking a jibe at the demonstrators, Bokhari said they had “toured the ‘Europe of Pakistan,’ Lahore, enough under heavy protocol” and should now return.
“Please, let Lahore breathe in peace,” she said, adding that PTI leaders should go back and address the issues of the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa instead.
She urged PTI to focus on public welfare in its own province rather than staging what she termed ineffective protests elsewhere.