Eyeball-to-eyeball: PPP floats idea of civil-military talks

Farhatullah Babar laments ‘perennial war’ between establishment, civil government .

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Monday floated the idea of having civil-military dialogue while claiming that agitation in the streets was a reflection of ‘a perennial fight’ between the all-powerful establishment and elected governments.

PPP’s Senator Farhatullah Babar said there had been an ‘unending war’ between the establishment and civil governments that had manifested itself in the past in various forms and through different players.

“There should be talks face to face and eyeball to eyeball to address the simmering issues in the perennial tussle between the two since the creation of Pakistan,” Babar said, while acknowledging that problems could not be sorted out overnight. The talks, he said, should be held in-camera.

Babar suggested that the committee (for dialogue) should either be headed by Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed from Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) or Senator Raza Rabbani from the PPP.



“The political leadership has come of age and the army leadership also has a realization that days of shab-khoon [ouster of civil government] are over,” he added.

He said the resolution, to be passed by the Parliament, should say that “whatever is happening in the streets [referring to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) sit-ins] was not a political activity rather it was unconstitutional and unlawful provoking of war amongst institutions.”

The parliament must condemn it unanimously for the sake of record, if nothing else, he added.

Babar said a new code was emerging in this joint session but unfortunately some elements were bent upon demolishing that code and creating space for the establishment.

“The prime minister might have long gone had the parliament not shown unity,” he added.

He said that ‘a few thousand protesters’ could not force the PM to resign. “In case the PM resigned, it would hurt the confidence of parliament,” he said.

He referred to the PPP’s opposition to government’s decision of imposing Article 245. “This house should demand the prime minister to withdraw the notification as the stated purpose of the invocation of the article was not achieved (protesters had attacked the Parliament House and PTV).”

Babar also called for meaningful and expeditious electoral reforms, saying the chairmanship of the reforms committee be given to the opposition and even to the PTI chief Imran Khan, who, he said, had rightly agitated the issue of election rigging.

He said his suggestions were the ‘way forward’ though government’s delayed response – in lodging FIR in Model Town incident and fulfilling the PTI’s demand for investigations into rigging allegations in four constituencies – was one of the reasons behind protests. “The decision was delayed and crisis was invited,” he added.

He also criticised the government for its attitude towards the protesting PTI particularly on the day its members had come to parliament. “They [PTI] did not demand resignation of the Prime Minister in this house which was actually the message,” he said.

Talking about the ongoing impasse, he said genesis of the conflict might be traced to Gen Pervez Musharraf’s trial, new ideas on foreign policy issues towards India and government’s role in Geo’s case.

Talking about script behind the agitation in the streets, he said: “if there is any scriptwriter, he should know that Naya Pakistan cannot be built through a script from old Pakistan of 1990s.”

MQM picks fault with army-bashing

Earlier, Muttahida Quami Movement’s (MQM) Babar Ghauri said an institution (army) was censured by the MPs in ongoing debate and it was inappropriate. He also supported the invocation of Article 245 saying “it is because of the army that today we are making speeches in this house.”

“We are with the parliament and believe that demand for resignation of the PM is not justified but the protesters had issues which the government should have addressed,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2014.