PML-N leader Attaullah Tarar has expressed his intention that he was willing to a dialogue with the PTI, but sans its incarcerated party chief Imran Khan who he thinks allegedly sabotaged the country’s image while in power.

“If Mian Sb [Nawaz Sharif] asks me, I say with minus-Imran approach talks should be held with everyone,” he said in an interview with Asma Shirazi on her show Faisla Aap Ka which was aired on Aaj News on Thursday.

He was responding to a query pertaining to the reconciliation with the former ruling party as a PTI-led delegation met with JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman earlier in the day to offer condolences on the demise of his in-law and party leaders at the Bajaur rally.

Though there were reports that political matters were also discussed, PTI’s Ali Muhammad Khan who was part of the delegation rejected it and wrote on X that the purpose of the meeting was to offer condolences.

Tarar neither welcomed the development nor shunned it. He supported his ‘minus Imran’ by accusing the former prime minister of jeopardising Pakistan’s relations on the world stage by waving the cipher – a diplomatic cable – in a rally, allegedly rolling back the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and “isolating” Pakistan on the world stage.

He went on to add that the involvement of his family members in the May 9 protests when protesters vandalised state buildings and military installations after Khan was first arrested in a graft case.

“I don’t think we should talk to a person who damaged the national security and said lies while violating the Official Secrets Act and challenged a country. With minus Imran approach, dialogue should be held with everyone,” Tarar said.

When Shehbaz Sharif became the prime minister after the ouster of Imran Khan, he had called for dialogue with Khan. The PTI chairman had also struck a reconciliatory tone, saying that he was ready to “talk to anyone” and “render any sacrifice” for the sake of the country’s uplift.

Former PPP senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, who was also on the show, stressed the need for ending polarisation to have free and fair elections. He warned that the country would end up in a bigger crisis if it did not happen.

He went on to add that Nawaz was a big leader in the region and accused the PTI of playing a “big role” in increasing the polarisation. He admitted that the former party leaders never sat with their rivals for any dialogue.

Senior analyst Mazhar Abbas described the meeting between the PTI huddle and Fazl as “significant” against the backdrop of severe criticism of Fazl from the former prime minister. He was of the view that the PML-N and other parties should take it positively.

According to Mazhar, in another case, a big voter of the PTI would be out of the whole process. He termed it as “damage”.

When asked, the senior analyst called for ending the trend of “making projects” while commenting on the establishment of new parties before elections and breaking parties.

Khokhar demanded that Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa should take up the reference pertaining to former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s death sentence pending before the Supreme Court

“This is a historical miscarriage of justice. This should be corrected. This is a historical burden on the court,” he said and claimed that the country’s judiciary has always been used as a tool.

He claimed that dozens of political engineering cases were present in the case. “We always go from the evolution process and we learn from it. We have reached a maturity stage where Mian Sb won’t take a route via which he will try but now he is doing that and signs are so obvious.”

PML-N’s Tarar rejected such an impression and shared how his party was apparently broke before the 2018 elections to boost the PTI.

“I don’t think the system is favouring us. We have given surety bonds,” he said.