The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf would file a writ petition in the Supreme Court over “stolen mandate”, a term used by the party to describe the February 8 election results, former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser has said.

“The government thinks that we are sitting idle, however, we are making our preparations and will give it a surprise,” he said in an interview with Aaj Exclusive on Saturday.

Imran Khan’s party held protest demonstrations in different parts of the country after the election results. The PTI has claimed that the PML-N tampered with the outcome of the polls and demanded the government return them their mandate.

At one point in the interview, he said that the PTI “quit everything” if PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif gave a sworn statement in the National Assembly that he won the election.

Qaiser’s statement comes at a time when the PTI and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam have inched closer to forming a united front against the ruling coalition government.

Separately, a private TV channel reported that Khan assured Fazl of resolving his “reservations”. The exchange of commutations between the two leaders happened with the help of party leaders.

Qaiser was hopeful that Khan would be released soon, saying that it was not possible for the government to keep him behind bars for more.

He claimed cases against Khan were politically motivated.

When asked about the surprise, he said that the party was making a grand alliance comprising all political parties who have concerns over this election.

Through the petition, he said that the party would urge the apex court to conduct an inquiry into the general elections to end rigging forever.

In response to a query related to the cipher case, he said that they had received a briefing on the diplomatic cable. He admitted that he saw the cipher and endorsed the party’s narrative of foreign interference.

While speaking about the demand for funds for erstwhile FATA region, he said that all parties had decided to give a three per cent share from the National Finance Commission Award to the area and Rs1,000 billion to bring the region at par with other provinces.

He claimed that the fund only goes into paying salaries.

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According to Qaiser, there were families on both sides of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. “You cannot divide it this way. You need an out-of-the-box solution to solve this issue.”

He added that the new regime in Afghanistan has no understanding of the area. He refrained from describing the activity at the border as smuggling, rather he used “irregular economy” for it.

The former NA speaker added that people were protesting at the Angood Ada against the closure of the border. He called for providing basic facilities and economic opportunities to the tribal people.

He demanded that the government should end all operations in the region and start negotiations with the people.