Govt-PTI in backchannel talks: Rehman Malik

'In case of ‘democracy leak’ the country might suffer an unbearable loss' Malik said

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz are sticking to their guns. Neither side is willing
to back down, triggering fears of a showdown on
Nov 1 — the day Imran Khan plans to ‘paralyse’ the federal capital.

But if Senator Rehman Malik is to be believed, the two parties are engaged in secret talks and that they could cut some kind of agreement before the D-Day.



“I have information that they are negotiating through backdoor channels, which is quite natural. It is highly likely that the two parties will cut some agreement after give and take,” he told The Express Tribune on Friday.

Senator Malik was one of the key go-betweens when the government had involved other parties to persuade Imran to call off his marathon dharna in 2014.

The PTI strongly denied the talk of backchannel negotiations, but the government’s move to engage Imran’s party through other politicians to give up his aggressive posturing lends some credence to Senator Malik’s claim.

The PTI chairman has repeatedly and unequivocally said that the Nov 1 sit-in would be the ‘final showdown’ in his campaign to hold the Sharif family accountable for their alleged financial corruption. He has made it clear that his party would not settle for anything less than an impartial inquiry into revelations in the Panama Papers that three scions of the Sharif family secreted their money in an offshore tax haven in Panama.



Senator Malik claimed on the authority of information he has that the PTI decision to reschedule its ‘Islamabad shutdown’ plan was also the result of secret negotiations between the two sides.

“I’ve information that some people [from both sides] had met. They negotiated on the date after which it was changed from Oct 30 to November 2,” he said without revealing the names of negotiators.

Recalling the marathon dharna of populist cleric Allama Tahirul Qadri in the capital in Jan 2013, Senator Malik, who was interior minister back then, said he had successfully negotiated a peaceful end to the sit-in. “So, negotiations are necessary to find a dignified solution to the brewing crisis,” he added. “Both the government and the PTI should show flexibility and settle for some give and take.”

Speaking euphemistically, Senator Malik said apart from Panama leaks and national security meeting leak – a reference to the controversial story of daily Dawn – there is another leak that he called ‘democracy leak’. “In case of ‘democracy leak’ the country might suffer an unbearable loss,” he added.

Senior PTI leader Naeemul Haq dismissed the talk of secret negotiations. “No negotiations at all with the government,” he told The Express Tribune when asked about Senator Malik’s claim. No government official was available to comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2016.