Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Barrister Gohar Khan said that a “unified government” does not mean a coalition government while urging for the release of political prisoners to provide a “healing touch” to the nation.

“If this [united government] is what he [COAS Munir] wants, then yes, there should be a united government. But a united government doesn’t mean that you have to form a national government,” he told Arab News PK on Saturday.

His statement came a day after Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir said that the nation needed “stable hands and a healing touch” to move on from the politics of anarchy and polarisation as he congratulated the nation on the successful conduct of general elections.

“Pakistan’s diverse polity and pluralism will be well-represented by a unified government of all democratic forces imbibed with national purpose,” a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations quoted COAS Munir as saying.

According to Khan, a united government meant that every political party should be united in one thing, that the people’s mandate should be respected.

For him, the “healing touch” meant that there should be a ceasefire between all parties involved and there should be no political prisoners in the country.

“The people’s mandate has to be respected. Short of it, there can be no healing touch,” Khan said.

He claimed that the people of Pakistan have spoken through the vote in favour of PTI founder Imran Khan.

“For the first time they have spoken in a very tough situation,” Khan said.

On former prime minister Imran Khan, he said the PTI would approach the high court against his convictions in different cases.

“These convictions would be set aside and he [Khan] will be out soon,” he added.