Speaking to the media after attending court proceedings, Chaudhry said the entire PTI leadership, including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, supported talks.
Criticising the government, he claimed it relied on “daily spectacles” to remain relevant and questioned how the country could function while people faced sentences totalling “thousands of years.”
He also expressed disappointment at what he described as the opposition’s lack of seriousness and urged 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 proceed with negotiations between the government and PTI, sources said on Wednesday, a significant development in efforts to cool political temperatures.
Read: K-P CM Afridi arrives in Karachi, greeted by PPP minister
Parliamentary sources said that the government side has agreed to take part in the talks at the speaker’s request. However, discussions will only be held with PTI’s elected representatives, while no engagement is planned with unelected party figures.
Despite the government’s readiness, the sources said, no PTI leader has yet formally approached the Office of the Speaker to begin the negotiation process, and initial outreach remains pending from the opposition’s side.
Chaudhry praised the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi for demonstrating responsibility, but described a recent statement attributed to Sohail Afridi as unfortunate. He said the political struggle was between the government and the opposition, while ordinary Pakistanis were bearing the cost.
Read more: Govt 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 need to reduce political tensions to make negotiations possible.
Highlighting the economic situation, he said household survey data indicated that nearly 30 per cent of Pakistanis were unable to afford three meals a day, reflecting the severity of the crisis. He added that no overseas Pakistani was currently willing to invest even a single dollar due to prevailing uncertainty.
Meanwhile, an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore extended Chaudhry’s interim bail until 13 February in seven cases linked to the May 9 violence. The court approved the extension after confirming his attendance and adjourned the matter until the next hearing.