Govt, opp urged to refrain from provocations

The civil society has taken a notice of the “harsh” statements issued by the ruling coalition government and the opposition PTI on the issue of holding elections in the country, saying both sides should refrain from making such moves, and suggested inviting civil society personalities as observers to talks between the two.

The Mediators – a conglomeration of civil society organisations – in a statement warned against “amateurish attempts” to subvert the ongoing negotiations between the both sides.

The statement comes after Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal warned the PTI to postpone the polls for one year.

The Mediators also took notice of PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s announcement that his party was ready for elections on a single date if the incumbent coalition government dissolved the remaining assemblies by May 14.

The PTI chief had dissolved the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies in January in a bid to force the government to hold early elections in the country.

The former ruling party had been pressuring the incumbent regime to hold elections in both the provincial assemblies at the earliest whereas the latter had been insistent on organising polls simultaneously in October, citing a number of reasons, including shortage of security and funds.

After months of political bickering, both the sides sat for talks last month after the Supreme Court directed both the sides to agree on a date for holding polls for Punjab Assembly.

However, on Friday, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said he did not have high hopes for the negotiations between the government and PTI and the process of dialogue was just a “waste of time”.

Speaking on Express News’ show “Centrestage”, Asif noted that the chances of talks succeeding had “reduced to almost nothing” after the PTI chief laid conditions for the polls.

Imran had said that there was no need for negotiations if the ruling coalition wanted to hold elections in September or October as he wished immediate dissolution of the National Assembly as well as snap elections.

The PTI chairman said that he had directed his negotiators, PTI leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Fawad Chaudhry, not to accept anything less than immediate dissolution of parliament and polls at the earliest.

Responding to the host’s query, Asif said Imran had “delivered a tampered ball”.

“We kept asking him [Imran] not to dissolve the Punjab Assembly. In fact, Parvez Elahi [then the Punjab chief minister] kept asking him not to dissolve the provincial assembly. Was dissolving the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies a correct decision?” he continued.

The minister disclosed that he had opposed talks with the PTI but his party wanted to give it a shot.

Meanwhile, Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal had also earlier said that elections would be held in October, noting that the country was going through the political and constitutional crisis.

The civil society coalition called for dialogue to shun such provocations.

The body reiterated its principled stance to ensure people’s right to free and fair franchise in an agreed framework through accommodating negotiations among the political adversaries.

It warned of dire consequences for constitutional rule and democracy if the talks failed.

It’s better to invite leading civil society personalities as observers to the talks, The Mediators suggested.