Rana Sanaullah says PDM ready for 'unconditional talks' with PTI

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah reiterated on Saturday that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the ruling multi-party alliance, was ready to hold "unconditional talks" with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership, Radio Pakistan reported.

Talking to the media in Lahore, he said that President Dr Arif Alvi was trying to facilitate talks between the two sides.

The statement comes days after PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry revealed that they were holding ‘informal’ talks with the federal government and trying to convey to them the gravity of the situation in the country.

Rana Sanaullah acquitted in narcotics case

The former federal minister said that the government was becoming irrelevant due to the economic meltdown. He feared that the incumbent rulers might flee the country as the economy has gone beyond their control, and thus leaving a power vacuum in the country. “We have told the government that without elections we cannot bring stability in the country,” he added.

“The biggest challenge for Pakistan is the economy; the country’s foreign exchange reserves have reduced to US $7 billion. Hence, immediate general elections are the only way to bring stability in the country,” he added.

In his media talk today, the interior minister said that the practice of filing false cases against political opponents should be shunned, highlighting that the "cases against PDM leaders are being disposed of on merit."

The interior minister said that the British-based newspaper Daily Mail tendered an apology for filing the baseless story against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, adding that the PTI leadership should also apologize.

He said that PTI leadership is bent on destroying the country for securing its politics.

Earlier on Saturday, a special court in Lahore acquitted Rana Sanaullah in a 2019 case pertaining to narcotics.

In July 2019, the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) allegedly seized 15 kilograms of heroin from his vehicle and arrested him while he was on his way from Faisalabad to Lahore. The ANF also registered an FIR against the PML-N leader under 9-C, 15, and 17 of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act.

Nawaz says Daily Mail's apology 'proof of Sharif family’s innocence'

The special team of the force also arrested five others, including the driver and security guards of the PML-N leader.

In a tweet, Sanaullah said “All Praises to Allah SWT for the much-awaited outcome of a bogus case which was registered as part of the political victimization campaign of PTI.”

“I’m grateful to everyone who raised their voices during that dark time and stood by me.”

In a related development, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif stated that the apology issued by the British publication Daily Mail was "proof of the Sharif family’s innocence.

He was referring to the apology issued by Daily Mail on Thursday to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for an “error” in an article it published on July 4, 2019, in which it had accused the premier of “stealing British foreign aid money”.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Nawaz said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan accused him of corruption and now, "I have been proved innocent by the courts and governments".

“In its clarification, the news publication stated that there was no evidence of the accusations of corruption or money laundering that were placed on us,” he said.