The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the government are “just buying time” in the negotiation process as they want for January 20 when Donald Trump will be sworn in as the United States president, anchorperson Javed Chaudhry has claimed.

“It is a lengthy process. Everyone is looking at the US as what impression comes from the US,” he said while appearing on Rubaroo which was aired on Aaj News on Saturday.

To date, there have been two rounds of discussions between the committees established by both the PTI and the government to facilitate these talks.

The PTI has demanded the release of “political prisoners” including party founder Imran Khan and a judicial investigation into the protests that took place on May 9, 2023, and November 26, 2024.

Negotiations between the PTI and the government appear to have encountered difficulties since their last meeting on January 2. The former ruling party has sought “unfettered” and “unmonitored” access to Khan which the government believes is “unusual” considering the jail environment.

But there was a breakthrough when Khan allowed his party leaders to submit written demands to the government.

Moments before the show, Sahibzada Hamid Raza, the PTI negotiation committee spokesperson, suggested National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq hold the third round of negotiations with the government committee tomorrow (Sunday) or the day after it.

Chaudhry, who hosts Kal Tak on Express News, claimed that there would be more demands after the PTI submitted the written document to the government. He added that a list of “political prisoners” would be next, followed by terms of references (TORs) for a judicial commission.

“The government is buying time and taking PTI to the corner. It wants the names of Imran Khan and other top leaders on the list only to leak it and build a narrative that the former ruling party does not care for workers. It will also try to play with the judges names PTI will give for a judicial commission,” he said.

The anchorperson added that the government would also want Khan’s party to sign a “Charter of Democracy” and a document to set parameters for protests and economic agenda,“ he said.

According to him, the PTI founder took 40 to present the charter of demand, showing that there was “no hurry”. He claimed that the former ruling party was waiting to see if Trump would make any decision. Similarly, he said the government wanted to see what the new US administration would decide about its policies.

“If there is any pressure and Khan has foreign support then the talks will be successful and an impression will be given that a democratic way was sought to settle matters. If Khan does not get the support then the government will get out of this.”

Khan sword hangs on government

When asked, Chaudhry described Khan as “the sword of Damocles” for the government, saying that the PML-N would never want the PTI to continue protests and achieve its targets.

He was of the view that the government would try to make the negotiations successful.

But he also mentioned that the PTI was “tired”, citing that Thursday was the first time when none of the family members, lawyers or any leader met Khan in the jail.

Chaudhry claimed that there was no engagement between Khan and the establishment. He substantiated his claim by saying that if there was any such thing then an anti-army chief post would not have been made from the jailed former prime minister’s social media account.

In response to a question, the columnist said that the PPP was “double-minded” in joining the government as it wanted to take credit for achievement but did not want to be blamed for failures.

‘Marriage of convenience’

While speaking about the Pakistan and US ties, he implied that both countries had arranged a “marriage of convenience” as both states needed each other in the region.

Moreover, Chaudhry described Khan as “Jacob the liar” allegedly for giving false hopes to his supporters about its success in politics.

He was of the view that the delay in announcing the £190 million case judgement was not because of any foreign pressure or relief. “The delay in decision is for someone else with whom the state is engaging. They have no link to Khan. There is a space created so that those people should decide where they want to head.”

But the columnist warned that the decision would be announced if the jailed former PM kept on posting anti-army chief social media posts.

Khan’s military trial?

He claimed that the government would table to a bill to amend the law to try Khan in the military court if the Supreme Court bars the military trial for civilians. It would allow military trials for all politicians, the columnist added.

Chaudhry went on to add that former Inter-Services Intelligence director general Lieutenant General (retd) Faiz Hameed’s trial would be completed by February 2025.

“If a piece of evidence comes against Khan or the former spymaster becomes approver in the case… Hameed has to give a list of his witnesses. If he includes the former army chief’s name in it then it will be confusion or chaos as never has an army chief been summoned in field court martial.”

Also, read this

Jailed ex-PM Khan warns government of taking cases to ‘international level’

Defence Minister Asif describes Imran Khan as ‘proxy’ for pro-Israel supporters

MQM-P’s Siddiqui expects government to reach a ‘deal’ with jailed ex-PM Khan

‘Three scenario’

Chaudhry claimed that there are three scenarios related to Khan’s release if the Western pressure mounts on the government.

“If foreign forces think that they want to make Pakistan like Libya, Sudan, or Syria, then they will make sure Khan is out of jail, but not in power. If the West wants him on the street then it means Pakistan is another target like Libya or Syria.”

Secondly, he alleged that the foreign powers want a leader who keeps helping them. Chaudhry claimed that such powers could free Khan through an agreement with the establishment. In such a case, he said maybe an Arab country would be involved to reach an agreement between the two sides.

Moreover, the anchorperson said the external forces would take favours from Pakistan by pressurising it on Khan’s case.