Former PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry. Photo: AFP/FILE
Former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry has reiterated the need for dialogue and emphasized that negotiations are essential for the country’s stability. He called on the Prime Minister and the President to take ownership of the negotiation process.
Speaking to the media after attending the trial, Chaudhry said the entire PTI leadership, including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, supported negotiations.
He criticized the government, claiming it relied on “daily spectacles” to stay relevant and questioned how the country could function while people faced sentences totaling “thousands of years.”
He also expressed disappointment at what he described as the opposition’s lack of seriousness and called on party leaders to show courage if they had accepted responsibility.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has reportedly given the go-ahead to National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to continue talks between the government and the PTI, sources said on Wednesday, a significant development in efforts to cool political temperatures.
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Parliamentary sources said the government side has agreed to participate in the talks at the speaker’s request. However, discussions will only take place with PTI’s elected officials, while no engagement with unelected party figures is planned.
Despite the government’s readiness, the sources said, no PTI leader has yet formally approached the Speaker’s office to begin the negotiation process and initial outreach efforts are still pending from the opposition.
Chaudhry praised Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi for showing responsibility, but described a recent statement attributed to Sohail Afridi as unfortunate. He said the political battle was between the government and the opposition, while ordinary Pakistanis bore the cost.
Read more: Government signals willingness to engage PTI
He added that the party’s real stakeholders were in jail while what he called “guest actors” continued to travel abroad. Reiterating that the PTI leadership had already called for talks, he said the government would have to reduce political tensions to make talks possible.
Highlighting the economic situation, he said household survey data showed that nearly 30 percent of Pakistanis could not afford three meals a day, reflecting the severity of the crisis. He added that currently no overseas Pakistani was willing to invest a single dollar due to the prevailing uncertainty.
Meanwhile, an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore extended Chaudhry’s interim bail till February 13 in seven cases related to the May 9 violence. The court granted the extension after confirming his appearance and adjourned the matter to the next hearing.
