Need for talks

A broad-based dialogue among the stakeholders is a sine qua non for stability. Adviser to the PM on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah pushed the envelope by reiterating that talks would help address the prevailing fragility and usher in some semblance. That, however, is not possible until and unless the government exhibits some magnanimity and initiates confidence building measures. The minimum to start with is to provide the opposition with due political space, and let the judicial process come full circle by deciding on lingering litigations of political prisoners in a transparent manner. That could set the ball rolling for a tete-a-tete, and rewrite a new charter of governance in civility.

The conditionality, nonetheless, put forward by Sanaullah for talks – asking the PTI to do away with its social media accounts propagating a hate campaign against national institutions – is like putting the cart before the horse. The PTI denies its involvement in any smear campaign and instead claims that there is bickering among its supporters due to non-compliance of the 2024 election mandate and subsequent ill-treatment meted out to the opposition. This is where some out-of-the-box thinking is desired to bring a disenchanted PTI to the dialogue table.

Sanaullah's plausible nod to the suggestion of Mehmood Achakzai and Allama Nasir Abbas meeting the incarcerated Imran Khan is the way to go, and must walk the talk. The point to realise is that the government that is sitting pretty cool on the heels of successes on the military and diplomatic fronts is bogged down at the hands of the economy. That is so because of the pestering political instability and the uncertainty gripping the organs of the state due to the government's highhandedness on the administrative and legislative assertions.

The need of the hour for all stakeholders is to revisit their stated positions and explore a middle ground for brokering a rapprochement. The bandwagon can only move forward if petty political considerations take a backseat.