File photo of Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani
The ruling coalition on Wednesday approached Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani to form a 10-member committee with equal representation from the government and opposition to deliberate on conducting general elections simultaneously nationwide.
The move follows the Supreme Court, last week, directing the ruling coalition and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to conduct dialogue to chart out a way forward over the current impasse regarding elections in Punjab, which the apex court has directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to organize on May 14. The government has repeatedly rejected this, maintaining that staggered elections would influence polls in whichever region had polls subsequently.
In a bid to facilitate the talks, the PTI has formed a three-member committee—comprising Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain and Senator Ali Zafar—while the PMLN has likewise tasked ministers Ayaz Sadiq and Khawaja Saad Rafique to advance talks. According to the government’s communication with Sanjrani, he has been requested to include five representatives each from the government and opposition to commence dialogue. The PTI initially rejected this, but appeared to express its willingness during proceedings in the Supreme Court on Thursday morning.
In a letter to Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Shehzad Waseem, the Senate chairman informed the PTI leader that he had been approached by the ruling coalition to mediate “political dialogue to address the ongoing political and economic crisis including the holding of general elections.” Stressing that this was in the national and public interest, he said the committee would be jointly convened by the leaders of the House and Opposition and include four members each from the opposing sides.
The letter also mentioned that the Senate would facilitate the talks and urged Waseem to share the PTI’s names for individuals who would participate in the dialogue.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court resumed hearings into the election delay case. During proceedings, Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial seemed to reverse course, remarking that the court had “advised” talks between political parties but could not order them to do so. Urging the stakeholders to not show “haste,” he reiterated that unless consensus could be achieved, the court’s orders for polls in Punjab on May 14 remained in play and had not been aside.