The stalemate between the ruling alliance and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) continued on Friday as the government urged the Supreme Court to give more time for talks between the two sides but the PTI leadership didn’t see any hope in the talks and pressed for holding polls in Punjab on May 14.
At the Supreme Court, the leadership of both sides remained adamant on their stance but pointed fingers at the other side for not showing flexibility in the three rounds of talks held in the past few days but ended without agreeing on the dissolution of the national, Sindh and Balochistan assemblies as well as on the date for general elections in the country.
While Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique expressed hope that issues could be resolved through dialogue, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the government did “nothing new” in the talks despite PTI trying to make the negotiations a success.
The railways minister said that the government and PTI have held meaningful negotiations and there has been no delay in the matter, saying that the on-going issues could be resolved through negotiations and the court should give more time.
Speaking to the media outside the Supreme Court, the minister clarified that the government doesn’t have any intention to continue ruling beyond the constitutional period. For political reconciliation, he said, the ruling alliance has shown flexibility in the talks.
Rafique said that Pakistan has fulfilled all the conditions of the IMF yet an agreement could not be reached. While referring to the political volatility, he said that the former premier Imran Khan should show patience for a few more weeks in the larger interest of Pakistan.
In his media talk, Rafique said that the government not only wants transparent elections but wishes that everyone should accept the poll results. He said that the court should not give instructions as politicians can sit across the table on their own to solve issues.
On the dissolution of the assemblies, Rafique said that prematurely dissolving both Sindh and Balochistan assemblies just because Punjab assembly has already been dissolved was a difficult task.
Read 'Significant progress' made in dialogue with PTI, PDM tells SC
Earlier in his statement before the court, Rafique while urging the court to give more time said that the ruling parties wish to find a solution through dialogue, adding the government does not want to stay even an hour beyond its term.
Meanwhile, Qureshi while talking to the media after the hearing in the Supreme Court said that the government was going left and right in the name of negotiations and it is not showing any flexibility.
The PTI leader alleged that the government did not consider PTI’s suggestions even when PTI expressed willingness that it was ready to go back to the National Assembly, amend the constitution, accept the caretaker government and the results of the upcoming general elections.
Qureshi said that the government was sticking to its stance and did not even show any flexibility before the Supreme Court, saying the government’s representatives rather talked arrogantly.
He said that PTI was trying its best to make the negotiations fruitful and had made every possible effort for achieving the objective but the government, in the meantime, was busy arresting PTI workers.
He said that everyone knows that parliament was being used by two big families of the country to protect their political interests while pushing the country towards a constitutional crisis. He also alleged that there has been no progress in the government’s negotiations with the IMF.
In between April 27 and May 3, the much-anticipated talks between the ruling alliance and PTI remained inconclusive as leaders from both sides confirmed that there was a “stalemate” between the two sides on the date for the dissolution of the assemblies and holding of the general elections in the country.
Though the negotiators from the ruling alliance and the PTI had failed to develop a consensus on the date for dissolving the National, Sindh and Balochistan assemblies and holding polls, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had said that both sides agreed upon holding general elections on the same day under the caretaker set-up, saying that both sides have agreed to accept poll results as well.
The third round of talks between the government and the PTI was held at the Parliament House on Tuesday night but it couldn’t lead to ending the ongoing political and constitutional stalemate as both sides failed to make headway on the assemblies’ dissolution and holding of general elections.
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