ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has once again changed its tune on the already fragile talks with the government, hinting that it could return to the table a day after announcing an impasse.

In the latest development on Friday, the former ruling party conveyed that it could be open to continued talks, but only if the government meets its key demands – to set up the judicial commissions and release political prisoners, including PTI founder Imran Khan.

The conditional offer comes on the heels of the PTI’s earlier stand on January 23, where it set a hard deadline for the formation of judicial commissions, only for the party to later put talks on hold after the government failed to act within the stipulated time frame .

PTI chairman Barrister Gohar had earlier said that the party supremo put the talks on hold due to the government’s failure to meet the party’s demands.

The embattled party’s shaky stance was exposed when it not only refused to participate in the upcoming fourth round of talks scheduled for January 28, but also insisted that discussions could only resume if the government accepted its demands.

Speaking to the media outside Parliament, Gohar initially claimed that the talks had been called off after the government refused to meet PTI’s demand to set up judicial commissions within a seven-day time frame.

However, the government rejected it, calling PTI’s deadline ‘unfortunate’ and clarifying that the original agreement had referred to “seven working days” – meaning the deadline for a response had not yet passed.

In a reversal of his earlier statement, Gohar clarified that Imran had merely put the talks on hold, not canceled them entirely. He quickly added that the PTI could reconsider talks with the government if its conditions were met, adding that this would demonstrate the government’s sincerity.

Gohar further pointed out that the lack of progress revealed the government’s true intentions and questioned what was stopping it from announcing the formation of the commissions now.

The much-needed talks between the PML-N and the opposition PTI had ground to a screeching halt on January 23 after Imran asked Gohar to call off talks with the ruling coalition for failing to set up judicial commissions to investigate incidents on May 9 and 26 .November within the stipulated requirements. time.

After the PTI’s decision, the spokesperson of the government’s negotiating committee, Senator Irfan Siddiqui, had said that the deadline was still not over as it was agreed in the last meeting that the government side would respond to the PTI’s charter of demands within “seven working days” and not in just seven days.

The Government Negotiating Committee’s spokesman had said that it was decided in the third round of talks between the two sides that the Government Committee would submit its response within seven working days, which he said would end on January 28 – the day the Speaker of the National Assembly has called for a committee meeting at . 11.45.

Reiterating that the PTI must review its decision, Siddiqui had said that the PTI took 42 days to submit its demand but demanded the government’s response within a week and wondered why it could not wait for just five more days.

He said the ruling committee was working diligently to prepare its response, but the PTI returned with the same zeal with which it came to hold talks with the ruling alliance, adding “We ask them to wait for some time” and review the decision.

Currently, the fate of the talks hangs in the balance as the PTI has made it clear that the only way to end the deadlock was to constitute commissions of its choice. However, the government side maintains that the opposition side should have waited for the government’s response before hastily breaking off the negotiations.

Commenting on rumors that the government was unwilling to set up commissions, Siddiqui had said that the PTI committee should have at least listened to the government’s written reply in the next meeting as the government side never said it would not constitute judicial commissions.

Moreover, he said it would have been better if the PTI had given a written statement to end the talks instead of conveying the same to the government through the media.

After PTI’s refusal, Siddiqui had said that the government committee would sit and decide on the future course of action on January 28.

Both sides had sat across the table on December 23, 2024 to discuss long-standing issues and find a way forward. Since then, the committees have met three times. As per the government’s demand, the PTI had submitted its demand in the third meeting on January 16 and was awaiting its response.

The talks aimed to bring political and economic stability to the country by resolving long-standing issues between the two sides. However, both sides have now contested the deadline and as a result the process has come to an abrupt end.