Imran dials down anger, says ready to mend fences.

LAHORE -- Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan reciprocated on Thursday to the talks offer from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, saying that he was 'ready to talk to anyone' for the sake of the country, its interests and democracy.

A day after the prime minister extended the proverbial hand of friendship for the nth time, the PTI chief and former prime minister struck a reconciliatory tone amid a war of words going on between the two sides for several months now.

In a tweet earlier, Imran wrote that he had no issue with taking any initiative that served the country's interests. He added that he was prepared to render any sacrifice for 'Pakistan's development, interests and democracy'.

While speaking in the Senate's special session marking its golden jubilee celebration on Thursday, the prime minister said, 'Let us brighten the future of Pakistan. We should strive and not conspire, remove hurdles instead of creating more, unite the nation instead of creating division.

However, Imran's willingness to talks should not be construed as if he himself would sit across the table with the prime minister or his key political opponents from the ruling coalition, according to senior PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry.

While ruling out a direct meeting between the current and former prime ministers for the time being and any discussion on corruption cases, Chaudhry said that the PTI leadership was available for the talks.

If the government was serious in the talks, especially, about simultaneously holding elections across the country, then it should formally make the dialogue offer instead of merely giving statements after statements, he added.

Chaudhry revealed that the PTI involved even President Dr Arif Alvi to mediate between the two sides but it did not yield any result. He accused the government had not created the atmosphere for the talks.

On the one hand, the prime minister was offering talks, while on the other, he was complaining about the past events, he said, referring to Shehbaz's statement in the Senate in which he 'regretted' that Imran deliberately avoided meeting his opponents for years.

Previously, Shehbaz had signalled his readiness to shake hands and sit across the table with the PTI chairman in the national interest, even though Imran had avoided every opportunity to talk to him during his rule.

While referring to Imran's consistent stance - during his tenure and afterwards -- that he would not shake hands with the incumbent...