Right direction

The coming confrontation between the government and the PTI may just be warded off. This would obviously be welcome news to a nation fearful of further confrontation and uncertainty at a time when it can ill-afford it. To make certain the peace we need goes through, the government must accept the PTI offer of calling off protests if talks between the two parties are resumed by December 6. The PTI’s Vice-Chairman, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, made the offer on December 3 during a talk show. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar seems to have responded positively and stated the government was ready to go ahead with negotiations from the point where they had been terminated in August this year.

The resumption of talks would bring to an end the PTI threat to “shut down” Faisalabad on December 8 and other cities some days later. There has been confusion over the dates and the intentions of the party. Some of its leaders have gone on record having said the purpose was not to paralyse the country but to bring about a process of dialogue. This may be so, but it would be wise for political parties not to adopt hard line positions from which they are forced later to back away or to rethink in the face of reaction from critics and perhaps members of the party itself. We must hope now that calm can now prevail.

The government and the PTI need to find a solution to the deadlock that has hung over us now for months. The last round of talks was interrupted when there was a lack of agreement over the make-up and scope of a judicial commission that was to be set up to look into allegations of electoral fraud. This must not happen again. A formula needs to be worked under which calm can be preserved and the threat of unrest thrust away so that all concerned can resume the business of government, which should be the prime responsibility of all at the present time.

This, after all, is what the people need and what most of them want. The PTI’s offer is a wise one; it would not be sensible to reject it and let an important opportunity go to waste.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2014.

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