20th amendment talks: Govt, opposition close in on deal

Government agrees to not extend ECP chief’s tenure, few stumbling blocks remain.

ISLAMABAD:

It takes a common existential threat to push two adversaries into uniting.

Faced with the Supreme Court’s decision to suspend 28 parliamentarians, the government and opposition have to reach a consensus fast, and the second day of negotiations on the 20th amendment subsequently achieved a partial breakthrough.

Interlocutors from both sides emerged upbeat from their second meeting in less than 24 hours, claiming that compromise was within arm’s reach, while announcing that the talks were to continue.

The proposed amendment lies at the heart of the unlikely huddle – if passed, it would validate all the by-elections that took place between April 2010 and July 2011 when the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was incomplete by the standards set out in the 18th Amendment. It would therefore enable parliamentarians from across the political spectrum, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), to be reinstated.

The talks managed to cover some significant ground when the government agreed to a demand to not seek an extension for the incumbent Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (Retd) Hamid Ali Mirza when his term expires next month.

As with all political deals, however, nothing is clear-cut just yet.

In their overnight parleys, Team Government, led by Religious Affairs Minister Khursheed Ali Shah, did not commit itself to bidding farewell to Mirza, whom the opposition termed a ‘partial’ individual who was a ‘handpicked’ choice of President Asif Ali Zardari.

Simultaneously, it was not clear whether the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had also conceded another opposition demand of making it binding for the government to appoint a new CEC with the ‘approval’ of the opposition leader in the National Assembly.

The government is also yet to reveal its cards on whether it would meet a demand to define rules for setting up a caretaker government to hold fresh parliamentary elections in the country expected later this year.

A PML-N leader, who said he was briefed by one of the participants, told The Express Tribune that the government had offered the opposition to open negotiations on a caretaker setup once the Senate elections were held on March 2.

Opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar had some cautious positive remarks to offer to the media, saying: “Some progress was made today, some is expected on Wednesday”.

Some officials from both parties told The Express Tribune that another informal round of talks was also held late Tuesday night, but the details remain unknown.

The opposition is planning to go in to round three, scheduled for today (Wednesday), after holding consultations with former premier Nawaz Sharif. An insider said the PML-N was likely to drop preconditions on the caretaker setup. This, however, could not be verified from the party officially.

Law Minister Maula Bux Chandio appeared to be the most optimistic, saying ‘all issues’ had been resolved and the amendment was likely to be brought to the National Assembly within the next couple of days.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2012.