Talks between the PTI and the ruling PML-N will continue despite PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife being convicted in a corruption case, PTI Chairman Ali Gohar Khan announced on Friday.

“[Talks] will not be interrupted because of this [judgment]”, Gohar quoted Imran as saying shortly after an accountability court sentenced the former prime minister to 14 years in prison in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust corruption case.

He said talks with the government would continue and the PTI would wait to see if the government constituted judicial commissions on the May 9 and November 26 incidents.

Imran said talks with the government will continue, but if there is no progress in the seven-day deadline given to the other side, there will be no further talks, he added.

“PTI has submitted its charter of demands and it will wait to see how the government responds to the demands,” Gohar said.

He said that Imran Khan is in high spirits and is not afraid of the verdict. The sentence awarded in the Al-Qadir reference will soon be overturned by the higher judiciary, he claimed.

The PTI chairman recalled that Imran has constantly told the higher judiciary that people are not getting justice from lower courts and this is leading to shattering the nations confidence in the judiciary.

Gohar said nations are destroyed when there is no justice in society. He asked people not to lose hope and said that justice will be done soon.

The government-PTI talks started on December 23 and both sides have so far held three rounds of talks to discuss difficult issues and to find solutions that can bring political and economic stability to the country.

Asked whether the backdoor channel was still being used for talks, Gohar, hesitating for a second, said “this is the channel which will continue”.

Apparently, the third round of negotiations was initially delayed until a verdict in the corruption case of 190 million was announced. GBP as the government side continued to demand a charter of demands from the PTI, while the PTI continued to insist that it would present its demands only after its negotiators are allowed to meet Imran Khan in jail to end it same.

Surprisingly, the announcement of the verdict was postponed three times as the negotiations stretched into a third week without progress.

However, the PTI negotiating committee was finally allowed to meet Imran Khan in jail to discuss its demands and present it to the government.

After the meeting, the PTI negotiating committee presented its demands to the ruling coalition committee. The demands, which Khan’s party conveyed in writing to the government side during their third round, include judicial inquiries into the events of 9 May 2023 and 26 November 2024, as well as the release of “political prisoners”.

Apart from judicial commissions, the PTI and its allies have sought support from the federal and provincial governments in the bail, reprieve and acquittal of “political prisoners”, identified by the party.