ISLAMABAD: Salman Akram Raja, a lawyer and close aide of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, said the jailed leader had told the party not to participate in the next session of ongoing reconciliatory talks with the Pakistan government unless it announced judicial commissions into accusations Khan’s party and supporters had led violent protests. 
The first round of talks aimed at cooling political instability in the 241-million South Asian nation took place between Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the government on Dec. 23, with follow up talks on Jan. 2 and 16. 
The PTI party’s demands to the government mainly include the release of all political prisoners including Khan, and the formation of two judicial commissions to probe into the events which led to his arrest in August 2023, and violent protest rallies, including one on May 9, when PTI supporters rampaged through military offices and installations, and a second one on Nov. 26 in which the government says four troops were killed. 
A Pakistani court last week sentenced Khan to 14 years imprisonment in a land corruption case, a setback to the nascent talks’ process. 
“He [Khan] has said we will not play committee-committee,” Raja told reporters after meeting Khan at the Rawalpindi Adiala prison on Monday.
“Our demands that judicial commissions be formed, if commissions are not announced into the events of May 9 and Nov. 26, then we will not sit in the next round [of talks].”

The talks opened last month as Khan had threatened a civil disobedience movement and amid growing concerns he could face trial by a military court for allegedly inciting attacks on sensitive security installations during the May 9 protests.
The negotiations also began two days after 25 civilians were sentenced by a military court to periods of two to 10 years of “rigorous imprisonment” in connection with attacks on military facilities on May 9, 2023. Just days later on Dec. 26, another 60 civilians were sentenced by a military court to jail time ranging from 2 to 10 years in connection with the May 9 attacks.
Khan’s first arrest in May 2023 in the land graft case in which he was sentenced last week sparked countrywide protests that saw his supporters attack and ransack military installations in an unprecedented backlash against Pakistan’s powerful army generals. Although Khan was released days later, he was rearrested in August that year after being convicted in a corruption case. He remains in prison and says all cases against him are politically motivated.
Protests demanding Khan’s release in November also turned violent, with the PTI saying 12 supporters were killed while the state said four troops had died.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that he looked forward to working with United States (US) President Donald Trump for an “enduring” Pakistan-US partnership, shortly after the latter was sworn in as the 47th US president.
Pakistan and the US collaborated during the Cold War and in the fight against Al-Qaeda after 9/11, yet their relationship was also tested by divergent priorities on various issues. In recent years, Washington and Islamabad’s ties deteriorated as the former suspected the latter of supporting the Taliban in their 2021 takeover of Kabul, allegations which Islamabad rejected.
Tensions rose further in 2022 when former Pakistan premier Imran Khan accused the Biden administration of orchestrating his ouster via a parliamentary vote, a charge the US denied. Since Khan’s ouster in 2022, Sharif’s government has made frequent efforts to repair the damaged relations.
“Over the years, our two great countries have worked together closely to pursue peace and prosperity in the region and beyond for our peoples & we shall continue to do so in the future,” Sharif said on X, extending his best wishes to Trump for a successful second term in office.
“I look forward to working with him to strengthen the enduring Pakistan-US partnership.”
Differences have also emerged between both countries over Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program. Late last year, US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said nuclear-armed Pakistan’s development of long-range ballistic missiles could potentially target the US.
The statement came after the US said it was imposing new sanctions related to Pakistan’s missile program, including on the state-owned defense agency that oversees the program. The Foreign Office in Islamabad said at the time that Pakistan’s strategic capabilities were solely meant to defend its sovereignty, dismissing the US allegations as “devoid of rationality.”
On Monday, Shafqat Ali Khan, a Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson, said Pakistan sought to “solidify” its relations with the US, which were marked by multi-layered cooperation in economy, trade, people-to-people connections, security and counter-terrorism.
“Pakistan-US relations have a very long history, and the relations remain rich and dense, and we would continue to work with the new administration to further solidify and strengthen this vital relationship,” Shafqat told Arab News.
“We seek to further strengthen these ties by ensuring the continued positive growth of bilateral relations.”
But many foreign affairs experts believe the new US administration will continue viewing Pakistan through the “China-India lens.”
“The biggest challenge for Pakistan is that the Trump administration will continue its previous policies of looking at Pakistan through the China-India lens,” Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, a professor at Quaid-e-Azam University’s School of Politics and International Relations, told Arab News.
“Now, the biggest challenge for us is how to convince the Americans that though we will be not a part of the American policies to contain China, but at the same time, we could be a part of Americans’ policies in addressing the non-traditional security challenges and on Afghanistan.”
Senator Sherry Rehman, who has previously served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, said every transition offers opportunities for a reset, and Pakistan needed to state its own goals for a broader bilateral path to widen its relationship with the US from a highly “securitized” lens to a more robust economic and commercial one.
“Islamabad should make a clear agenda with defined milestones for consistent engagement over better terms of trade, not just wait for Washington to respond to regional headwinds, in which Pakistan finds itself seeking balance against an Indian arms race in South Asia,” she told Arab News.
Dr. Salma Malik, another foreign affairs expert, said if the US adopts policies directed against China, every action or policy decision it takes will have a “direct or indirect impact on Pakistan.”
“Therefore, it is important not to overreact or panic, instead, we should cautiously approach developments, assess opportunities, and respond accordingly,” she said.