ISLAMABAD: Prime Minis­ter Shehbaz Sharif’s fresh offer to the opposition PTI for a dialogue on Wednesday met with a strong rebuke, as the latter made it conditional with the release of the party’s founding chairman Imran Khan and other party leaders and activists.

“If any hardships are being faced by your [PTI’s] founder in jail, then [let’s] talk about them,” said PM Shehbaz in the National Assembly, addressing the PTI members who kept on highlighting their alleged political victimisation and decried the alleged mistreatment of Mr Khan at Adiala Jail during their speeches on cut motions related to the federal budget.

The other highlight of the proceedings was the speech of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who forcefully oppos­­ed the planned anti-terrorism operation, Azm-i-Istehkam. At the same time, however, he warned that certain areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could fall under the control of the “Islamic emirate”, a reference to the Taliban’s government in Afghanistan, within the next two to four months.

Taking the floor soon after PTI’s Ali Muhammad Khan’s speech in which he highlighted the alleged state high-handedness against PTI members and said that the Constitution could not be implemented in a country facing lawlessness, the prime minister said that he and other PML-N members also remained victims of the alleged political victimisation when the PTI was in power.

He recalled that on the day his mother died, he was taken to a court for hearing of a case. He said that despite being a cancer survivor and with a backbone ailment, he used to be driven to courts on an ordinary prison van just to exacerbate the condition, but he never complained.

PM Shehbaz also recalled how party leaders like Rana Sanaullah and Khawaja Asif were allegedly forced to sleep on the floor inside the jail. He, however, said they did not want to see their opponents facing the same hardships which they had faced in the past. “Once again I say today, come, let’s sit and talk, and we can sort out the problems,” he added.

“In 76 years (since the country’s independence), we’ve reached a point where we are even hesitating to shake hands with one another,” said the premier, who had gone to the opposition benches to shake hands with Maulana Fazl and other PTI members sitting in the front row, including Opposition Leader Omar Ayub Khan and Asad Qaiser.

PM Shehbaz regretted that his repeated offers for a Charter of Economy had never been responded to positively. Instead, he was hooted down in the assembly when he made this offer as the opposition leader after the 2018 elections.

“Come, let’s agree on the Charter of Economy today,” the premier added. He said justice must always be delivered, whether to a political leader or an individual from any walk of life.

Opposition Leader Omar Ayub, however, immediately responded with stringent preconditions and retorted that the “Form 47 prime minister has talked (about reconciliation). Had there been (members elected on) Form 45 people, Imran Khan would have been the prime minister today”.

Mr Ayub added: “Talks will take place when Imran Khan is out of jail and when our members are out [of jail].” He accused the government of subjecting Imran Khan to harsh conditions and subjecting party members to torture. “We will not talk. Imran Khan has been kept in a death cell and an oven,” he said.

He refuted PM Shehbaz’s claims about their own hardships, claiming that Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif had been provided with air conditioners in jail and had permission to meet visitors daily. He said the National Assembly could only run effectively when every member was given equal respect, and reconciliation was possible only if the government realised its “wrongdoings”.