Screengrab of the meeting between the PTI and the ruling alliance
The ruling alliance and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday formally commenced negotiations in a bid to end the impasse over simultaneous elections nationwide in line with the Supreme Court’s orders to resolve the situation through dialogue.
The first round of talks commenced at Parliament House, lasting around two hours. The government was represented by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Yousaf Raza Gilani, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, MQM-P’s Kishwar Zahra and Commerce Minister Naveed Qamar, while the PTI’s delegation consisted of party Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Senior Vice President Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, and Senator Ali Zafar.
Reportedly, the PTI delegation presented the government with three demands: the dissolution of all assemblies in May so elections could be conducted nationwide in July; adoption of a constitutional amendment to provide legal cover for delaying polls in Punjab and KP beyond the 90-day constitutional limit; and the withdrawal of the PTI’s resignations from the National Assembly so they could return to Parliament prior to its dissolution.
Following the meeting, Gilani told journalists that they had been informed of the PTI’s demands and would consult with the party’s senior leadership. “Whatever is decided, it will be based on input from all parties,” he said.
Qureshi, meanwhile, told media that dialogue was the only way to resolve the prevailing political differences. “We have entered the talks with a spirit of arriving at a decision … but we will not allow the talks to be used as a delaying tactic for polls,” he said, adding that the government side had sought some time to discuss the PTI’s demands with its senior leadership.
Zafar said the sole agenda of the talks was elections. The senator told press that the committee was aiming to inform the Supreme Court about the outcome of the talks by Monday.
The sole dissenting voice to talks with the PTI remained the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl), with party chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman saying he did not believe consultations on polls was the job of politicians, as this was the sole mandate of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). “The Supreme Court is forcefully asking us to hold talks; all the political parties are trying to convince one person [Khan] and we cannot do that,” he told media.
Supreme Court
Earlier in the day, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial urged all political parties to commit to dialogue. But in contrast to its earlier orders, the CJP maintained that the court had not directed political parties to negotiate and had merely provided a “suggestion” to resolve the situation.
During the previous hearing in the case regarding simultaneous polls nationwide, the CJP had issued an order directing political parties to sit together and chalk out a strategy for deciding the date for polls. The order had directed the parties to inform it of any progress in this regard by April 27. During the hearing, the CJP reiterated the “advice” for dialogue, while regretting that a “constitutional violation” had already taken place, as polls were not held within 90 days of the dissolution of the Punjab, KP assemblies.
The brief proceedings concluded with the CJP remarking that the bench would “shortly” issue an appropriate order but would not bind the parties to any deadline to achieve consensus. The courts cannot force political parties to hold parleys but they should approach each other with optimism, he remarked, adding the court wanted a constitutional way out of the current impasse.