Mediation: PPP committee to help resolve political imbroglio

CEC demands registration of FIR in Model Town tragedy.

KARACHI:

The top decision-making body of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) decided on Monday to form a special committee to mediate between the two protesting parties – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tahreek – and the government on the lingering political logjam in the country.

A meeting of the PPP Central Executive Committee (CEC), co-chaired by Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at Bilawal House, also demanded registration of an FIR in the June 17 Model Town killings besides a free, impartial and independent investigation.

In a resolution adopted at the meeting, the party warned that any derailment of the democratic process, any abrasion of the Constitution or any deviation from the constitutional path in any form or manifestation shall not be tolerated or allowed.



“This time a derailment of the democratic system shall not only affect the Constitution but the federation will be at stake,” the CEC said, calling upon all the three parties – PTI, PAT and PML-N – to exercise restraint and engage in a meaningful and result-oriented dialogue, which is the only way of ending an impasse in a democratic system.

“The three parties should shun egoism, show accommodation and work for a solution within the Constitution. Otherwise the responsibility of any derailment of the democratic system shall be on PTI, PAT and PML-N,” PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira said while briefing journalists after the meeting.

He said a PPP committee would try its best to resolve the issue amicably because the prevailing political situation was pregnant with ingredients that could destabilise the democratic process. “Our party pledges to the people of Pakistan that we will play a role to defuse the situation to save democracy,” he said.

Asked about the PAT and PTI demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he said, “We will go by the decisions made by parliament which is the supreme body.”

Rigged election

Asked about Imran Khan’s allegations of massive rigging in the 2013 elections which were endorsed by former additional secretary of ECP Afzal Khan, Kaira said, “The CEC has decided that these allegations must be investigated by the superior judiciary.”

“We were the first party that had expressed concerns over how the polls were rigged and questioned the creditability of returning officers. It should be thoroughly investigated by a commission to be formed with the consent of all parties,” he said. In this connection, Kaira referred to Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Sirajul Haq’s proposal that he had floated during a recent meeting with Zardari that “the judicial commission [to be formed to investigate the rigging allegations] should not have any Punjabi-speaking judge.”

The CEC, according to Kaira, also agreed that massive rigging complaints in the 2013 elections necessitated immediate electoral reforms.

Kaira said that the CEC expressed serious concern over the policies of the incumbent government that has failed to address the core issues confronting the country like load-shedding, sky-rocketing prices, inflation, lack of proper healthcare and educational facilities. The CEC also extended full support to the ongoing military offensive in North Waziristan Agency.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2014.