It looks like it.
According to IHS Jane's interview with the PAF CAS in May 2019, the PAF's ordering 26 JF-17Bs to train young pilots "without first putting them through the F-16, Mirage or F-7P/PG as they are now." So, that big tells me that the PAF wants to start assigning rookie pilots to the JF-17, right away.
But in the same interview, the CAS says the PAF needs a LIFT with "an air interdiction radar and datalink training system," and that it must happen before the "FGFA capability comes online."
So, the PAF wants a LIFT to prepare pilots for a 4+/5th-gen cockpit right away: finish FCU on the LIFT, and then move onto the OCU on the JF-17B or F-16B/D.
In other words, it's more than learning how to fly the JF-17, but now also knowing BVR, network-enabled operations, using a targeting or recon pod, EW/ECM, etc before doing any OCU flying.
I think there's also a secondary intent, and that is to lessen the Mirage and F-16s' DACT usage at CCS.