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Jailed senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders have jointly called on the party leadership to initiate a dialogue process to end “political instability”.

In a letter addressed to the PTI leadership, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Mian Mehmood ur Rasheed, Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhry, and Omar Sarfraz Cheema stressed that negotiations are the only viable solution to the current political crisis.

Several PTI leaders, including its founder Imran Khan, have been behind bars for nearly a year. Many of them are facing charges mainly stemming from the May 9 protests — in which state installations, including the Jinnah House, were attacked.

In the letter, available with Geo News, the jailed leaders have proposed that dialogue should not be limited to political stakeholders but should also include engagement with “powerful quarters.”

They further recommended that access to the party’s patron-in-chief be made easier to help form a negotiation committee.

The letter also suggested that detained leaders be included in the dialogue process and underscored that talks should be ongoing rather than treated as a one-time effort.

May 9 mayhem

A large number of workers and supporters of PTI staged almost countrywide demonstrations on May 9, 2023 — when the PTI founding chairman was arrested by paramilitary troops on the directions of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in connection with an alleged corruption case.

The demonstrators destroyed public and private properties, attacked military installations — the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi and the Lahore Corps Commander’s House (Jinnah House) — and ransacked relics of martyrs.

Following the incidents, the civil and military leadership resolved to give exemplary punishment under the relevant laws including Army Act to all those involved in hooliganism, arson, ransacking of public and private properties, attacking sensitive military installations and desecration of martyrs’ monuments on May 9.

The deposed prime minister, who was ousted from power via the opposition’s no-confidence motion in April 2022, has been facing a slew of charges ranging from corruption to terrorism since his removal as premier.

Khan has been behind bars since August 2023 after he was sentenced in multiple cases ahead of the February 8 elections.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said that the government has decided to enhance the country’s water storage capacity, given India’s designs to weaponise water.

India in April held the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance following the attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 — an incident New Delhi blamed on Islamabad without evidence. The treaty allocates the Indus Basin’s six rivers between the two countries: India gets the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej), while Pakistan receives nearly 80 per cent of the water from the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab).

Pakistan termed any attempt to suspend its water share an “act of war”, noting the IWT had no provision for unilateral suspension. It later said it was considering court action, citing a violation of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in Hague also ruled India cannot unilaterally suspend or hold the IWT in abeyance.

During a visit to the National Emergencies Operations Centre today, the prime minister referred to the PCA’s order, emphasising that India had no authority to suspend the IWT unilaterally.

“But the enemy has certain evil designs against Pakistan and wants to take steps against the waters treaty. For that, the government has decided that we will build our water storage.”

He said the government would build a “non-controversial water storage capacity” by utilising resources such as the Diamer Bhasha dam and others.

PM Shehbaz said there was a clear clause in the 1991 water accord between the provinces to build on water capacity.

“We will build this capacity with our own resources in the next few years. There is a critical role of the National Disaster Management Authority in this.”

The prime minister directed that weather warnings and calamity threats should be regularly issued through phone messages in collaboration with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.

The prime minister recounted the disastrous impacts of the catastrophic floods in 2022. He said that Pakistan was unfortunately among the countries on the world map which could be hit by natural disasters such as cloudbursts, even though it had hardly any contribution to the greenhouse effect.

During the year 2022, Pakistan had suffered more than any country in the world, he noted. More than 1,700 lives were lost, vast stretches of farmland were washed away, homes and infrastructure were damaged, and the national exchequer suffered losses of Rs30 billion, according to government estimates.

The prime minister further said that glacial melting due to heat waves also demanded the highest level of preparedness.

“What happened in Swat in which precious lives were lost, engulfed the entire nation in a pall of gloom,” he said and stressed that the stakeholders in the matter should take an honest review of the incident, directing for a formulation of a comprehensive mechanism in collaboration with the provinces to prevent such occurrences in the future.

The prime minister also ordered a report in this regard.

He opined that in the aftermath of the floods of 2022, the relevant ministers negotiated the grants and public-private partnerships for building resilient infrastructure in the country.

The prime minister appreciated the National Emergencies Operations Centre and expressed hope that the relevant authorities would fully utilise the resilient platform for the progress of the country’s economy and social sectors.

He also assured the government’s complete support in strengthening the institute and its capacity building.

The prime minister hoped that the facility would be connected with the provinces and could convey real-time information with interventions such as an early warning system.

During his visit, he was given a briefing by NDMA Chairman Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik over the current monsoon season, the flood situation and the precautionary measures taken in this regard.