Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan has called off negotiations with the government due to its failure to establish a judicial commission within the seven-day period, according to PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan. Speaking to the media outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, Barrister Gohar said that the party’s legal team, including himself, met Khan earlier in the day, who has been behind bars for more than a year. During the meeting, Khan expressed his frustration over the delay, saying that the government’s failure to act for formation of judicial commission leaves no reason to continue the talks. “The founder of PTI has categorically announced that no further rounds of negotiations will take place,” Gohar said. “The government made announcements but has yet to follow through, which is why Imran Khan decided to end the negotiations.” The development comes as negotiations between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led government and PTI began in late December in an effort to ease political tensions. However, weeks of talks – with three sessions taking place so far – have made little progress on key matters. The Khan-founded party, in its written charter of demands presented to the government during the third session on January 16, had demanded the formation of two judicial commissions – mutually nominated by the PTI and the government within seven days – and the release of “political prisoners”. The former ruling party’s demands of two judicial commissions pertained to an inquiry into the May 9, 2023 riots as well the events from November 24 to November 27, 2024, in relation to its protest in Islamabad. Elaborating on the party’s stance, Barrister Gohar said that the judicial commissions, if the government forms them, should consist of three senior judges from either the Supreme Court or the high courts. “We will continue our struggle in accordance with the Constitution and the law,” remarked the PTI chairman, adding that efforts would be made against an independent judiciary and the 26th Amendment. “We will initiate a movement in collaboration with all political parties,” he added. Barrister Gohar further conveyed the remarks of Khan, saying: “As of today, the commission was supposed to be announced, but it has not been.” He further quoted the PTI founder as saying: “We are not waiting for assistance from any foreign country.” Separately, terming the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) decision to end the ongoing negotiations with the government “unfortunate”, the government has urged the former ruling party to “reconsider it as the deadline of seven working days ends on January 28”. “When they [PTI] had knocked on our door and handed over a questionnaire, they should have listened to our answers,” PML-N Senator Irfan Siddiqui – spokesperson for the government’s negotiation committee – said while speaking to journalists outside the Parliament House on Thursday. Briefing the media, Siddiqui said that the former ruling party took 42 days to table its “charter of demands” and now they “want us to constitute a judicial commission in seven days.” “We reckon the seven working days will be completed on January 28,” he said, wondering why PTI threatened to pull out of talks. “It is hard to ascertain as to what went wrong in the last seven days that led the party to give up on talks?” “They [PTI] were quick in starting it and are now making a hasty retreat. They are quitting with the same impatience they started it. We are asking them to stay put and let the weather improve,” he added. The PML-N Senator further said that the government committee took the PTI’s demands seriously and formed a sub-committee, which includes seven allied parties, to chalk out a written response. “We had almost formed an opinion on the PTI’s demands,” he said, asking the Imran-founded party to reconsider its decision if they can form an opinion “apart from their founder’s opinion”. The spokesperson also said that the government had exhibited restraint at many points during the talks and ignored many actions by the PTI, including posts by Imran on his official X handle. Furthermore, he said, the government did not raise objections to Imran’s ongoing civil disobedience call since it wanted to make progress in talks in the “spirit of democracy and give and take”. He called on the PTI founder to reconsider its course of action or inform the government in writing if the negotiations are over.