Govt likely to delay deadline for response to PTI

The government's negotiation committee was mulling over extending its seven-day deadline by another week to submit its response to the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)'s demands, Senator Irfan Siddiqui, the spokesperson for the government' negotiation committee, revealed on Monday.

The PTI presented its demands during the third round of talks with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led coalition government on January 16. During the talks, the government promised to respond to the PTI demands in seven days.

"Currently, the seven parties, included in the government committee, are in the process of mutual consultation and seeking guidance from their respective leaderships," Senator Siddiqui wrote on X. He added that "it may take another week to prepare the final response."

The government committee's spokesperson also refuted the reports that claimed that the ruling coalition had already prepared its response. He said that there was no truth in the news and all such stories were baseless.

Siddiqui's statement came against the backdrop of several reports that claimed that the government side's response was ready and the government had decided not to constitute a judicial commission on May 9, 2023 incident, as demanded by the PTI.

The reports further claimed that the government committee had discussed the PTI's demands – formation of judicial commission on May 9 and November 26, 2024 incidents and release of political prisoners, including Imran Khan – and decided that the commission could not be formed on May 9.

There were several reasons for not accepting the demand, the reports said, such as sensitive civil and military installation were attacked on that day; the accused were already on trial; and several accused had already been convicted of May 9 attacks. Siddiqui, however, refuted all such claims.

As the PTI has been insisting on the formation of judicial commissions to ensure accountability and transparency, the PML-N was chiding the opposition over its contacts with Chief of Army Staff General (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir.

Why the PTI wanted talks with the government when it successfully achieved its objective of getting an audience of the establishment, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif questioned, referring to a meeting of PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan and K-P Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur with the army chief.

Meanwhile, in response to reports that government was not inclined to form judicial commission on May 9, Barrister Gohar said that party founder Imran Khan had directed the negotiating team to withdraw from talks if the judicial commission was not formed within seven days.

Speaking to the media outside Adiala Jail, Gohar emphasised that the establishment of the judicial commission was critical for a meaningful dialogue, saying that if the government did not move forward on forming the commission, there was no point in continuing the negotiations.

Gohar reportedly said that there wouldn't be a fourth round of talks if the commissions – on May 9, 2023 and November 26, 2024 -- were not constituted. However, Gohar added that the PTI team would wait for seven days for a response from the government side.

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 thrice. As per government's demand, PTI had submitted its charter of demand in the third meeting on January 16 and currently awaiting its response.

The government's committee, comprising of different allies, has since been contemplating on its response to the demands. The date for fourth meeting hasn't yet been decided as it will only be finalised when the government is ready.

However, the government can't go on deliberating on demands forever as, apart from the seven-day deadline, PTI has also earlier announced that it wants to conclude talks by January 31.