Lahore [Pakistan], April 18 (ANI): Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur stated on Friday that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan was willing to hold talks as he 'dreams of building a proud, independent nation', Dawn reported.

He made the remarks while speaking to a joint general house of the Lahore High Court Bar Association and the Lahore Bar Association.

He said, 'Imran Khan is ready for a dialogue not because he wants power or the prime minister's chair, but because he dreams of building a proud, independent nation.'

Gandapur said the talks should aim at Pakistan's national interest and stability. He said the government was considering the possibility of trying the PTI founder in a military court and that Pakistan cannot be governed through coercion.

He claimed that there was rigging in the general elections held in 2024 proved that Pakistan was being run by selected, not elected, people. He claimed that Imran Khan was in prison not due to any wrongdoing but because 'he is a threat to the current system'.

Gandapur said that repeated experiments had been made in Pakistan to impose selected individuals on the people, which has resulted in Pakistan plunging into Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 76 trillion debt, Dawn reported.

Slamming the system in Pakistan, Gandapur said, 'You want selected people because you are the ones who want to run and overthrow governments. If you're the judge, the lawyer, and the complainant, then how can a country function like this?'

He questioned the authorities about how long they would keep Imran Khan in prison. He asked, 'How long will you keep Imran Khan behind bars? When the voice of 240 million people is not being heard by the establishment and the decision makers, it means they are not with the people but with their personal interests.'

Ali Amin Gandapur said the PTI launched a peaceful movement. However, the rallies of the party were stopped, and leaders and workers were put in jail, Dawn reported.

Speaking about PTI's protest in Islamabad in November last year, he said that authorities responded with bullets when people decided to rise, killing 14 PTI supporters and injuring many others. He announced a financial grant of Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 50 million for the Lahore High Court Bar Association.

On Thursday, several Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers and family members of party founder Imran Khan were briefly detained near Adiala Jail in Pakistan's Rawalpindi on Thursday, The Express Tribune reported.

Opposition Leader in the National Assembly, Omar Ayub, Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Ahmed Khan Bhachar, SIC chief Sahibzada Hamid Raza, and Imran Khan's three sisters -- Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Khan -- along with their cousin Qasim Khan, were among those arrested on Thursday. Later, police released all of them.

PTI shared the video on the social media platform X when the leaders were being taken into the police van.

While sharing the video on X, PTI wrote, 'Imran Khan's sisters and PTI leaders have been detained outside Adiala Jail. What kind of justice system arrests family members and party leaders for following court-approved visitation procedures? Imran Khan's sisters and PTI officials are being targeted simply for exercising their legal right to see him at Adiala Jail. This is a direct assault on the foundations of justice and due process.'

https://x.com/PTIofficial/status/1912868147616432293

According to eyewitnesses and statements made by Aleema Khan and Omar Ayub, police took them on a mysterious drive across the city in a prison van, with stops at places like a petrol pump and a restaurant before being finally released. (ANI)