Khan, 71, has been in jail since August last year and faces a string of legal challenges which he says are motivated to keep him and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party out of politics. Since last year, he has been convicted in four different cases, including on charges of not declaring assets earned from the sale of state gifts, leaking state secrets and that his 2018 marriage to Bushra Khan violated Islamic laws.

Due to the convictions, Khan was ruled out of Feb. 8 general elections, in which his party won the most seats overall but did not have the simple majority needed to form government, which was formed by a fragile coalition led by Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. Khan and his party have rejected the election results, citing widespread rigging, which the election commission denies.

“If their leader [Khan] has any difficulties, tell me. Let’s sit, talk about it and settle matters,” Sharif said while addressing the National Assembly on Wednesday. “Come sit with us [government] together for Pakistan’s bright future. There is no other way out.”

“I announce this right now, holding the entire parliament as evidence, that I don’t want any of this to happen with them [PTI] what we suffered and went through,” PM Sharif added, citing political victimization of the Sharif family and the PML-N party in the past.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Wednesday invited the opposition political parties to join hands for a dialogue to discuss the ways to take the country ahead.

“Let us sit together to take the country ahead. Let us talk for the betterment of the country. There is no other way forward,” the prime minister said addressing the National Assembly.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif while extending an olive branch to his political rival Imran Khan, offered him to sit and talk if he has any issues.

“If their (PTI) founder is facing troubles (in jail), then I reiterate: come, let’s sit down and talk,” said the premier.

The premier said that there was a time in this house when politicians would severely criticise one another, but they would also stand with their rivals during times of happiness and sorrow.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have been at loggerheads for years, particularly after the February 8 elections, which Imran’s party claims it had won.

Speaking about the 2018 elections, the prime minister said: “We joined the parliament despite the (rigged) polls. The sort of slogans that were raised during my first speech will always be remembered as a dark chapter in the history books.”

He recalled that in the past too, he had invited the political parties to evolve a consensus on a Charter of Economy but that idea was ridiculed just for political point scoring.

The PM lamented that he had once again, while he was in the opposition, proposed Imran to sit on the talking table but such slogans were raised again. “So who is responsible for this bitterness. We don’t even shake hands now,” he expressed.

He also mentioned how Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and PML-N Punjab President Rana Sanaullah were treated during their time in jail.

The prime minister also recounted his ordeal of facing victimisation and that he was in jail when his mother passed away.

He said that despite being a cancer survivor and with a backbone issue, he used to be taken to courts on the ordinary prison van just to exacerbate the condition, but he never complained.

But he said, having faced all the victimization, he would never desire his political adversaries to face a similar situation.

“If someone is facing any injustice, then I believe that the scales of justice should be in favour of those (being victimized), there is no difference over it — whether it be any politician or anyone from any walk of life.”

Khan has faced numerous cases since his ouster from the PM’s office in 2022 in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence, which he alleges was backed by the powerful military in cahoots with his political rivals led by the Sharifs, after he had fallen out with top army generals. The army denies the accusations.

Khan and his party have faced a state-led crackdown after alleged followers of the PTI attacked government and military properties on May 9 last year after Khan was first briefly detained in a land graft case. Khan and the PTI say the riots have been used as a ruse by his political rivals and the military to crack down on the party, which is arguably the most popular in Pakistan. Both deny the charge.

Khan has also been indicted under Pakistan’s anti-terrorism law in connection with the May 9 violence. A section of Pakistan’s 1997 anti-terrorism act prescribes the death penalty as maximum punishment. Khan has denied the charges, saying he was in detention when the violence took place.