Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan called off reconciliatory talks with the government yesterday, a week after a court handed him a 14-year jail term on graft charges, his party's chairman said.

Aimed at cooling political instability in the South Asian nation, the talks had started late last year ahead of the judgment in the land corruption case against the 72-year-old politician.

The graft case is the largest that Khan faces in terms of financial impropriety. It involves land given by a real estate tycoon to a welfare institution set up by Khan and his wife in return for illegal favours.

"Khan has called off negotiations," the party chairman, Gohar Khan, told reporters in comments telecast live by Geo News TV after he said he met the former premier in jail.