“We have no issue in resuming stalled talks with the PTI. Most probably these talks will be starting from Sunday evening after the return of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from his foreign trip,” Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told reporters on Friday.
Before leaving for London, the prime minister had asked Dar to approach PTI, which is in a protest mode since August 16 against the perceived electoral fraud in the May 2013 polls, and resume the dialogue process.
The decision had come on the request of Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah during a huddle to finalise names for new chief election commissioner on December 1.
The two sides are said to be in contact through direct and indirect backdoor channels. However, a formal dialogue is yet to resume. An opposition parties’ Jirga, headed by Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq, is also trying to get both the parties back to the negotiating table.
Dar demanded that the PTI postpone its protest rallies as a gesture of goodwill before resumption of talks. However, he did not say it was a pre-condition.
The PTI has announced to shut down three major cities, Faisalabad, Karachi and Lahore, on December 8, December 12 and Dec 15, respectively, and the whole country on December 18, if its demand for an independent audit of the May 2013 general elections is not accepted.
According to Dar, it was the PTI chief who had abruptly stalled the negotiations after many rounds of talks in August when the PTI along with Dr Tahirul Qadri had tried to storm the Prime Minister’s House.
“Now the PTI has also indicated that it will engage again in the talks, which is a positive sign and the government welcomes it,” the minister remarked.
On formation of the proposed judicial commission to probe the PTI’s allegations of massive rigging in May 2013 polls, Dar said the government has no issue with constituting any commission, adding that the prime minister had written to the Supreme Court in this regard.
“The PTI wants that the proposed commission should be set up though a presidential decree. However, the government has reservations over the proposal since it feels that such an ordinance will be challenged and struck down in courts,” he said.
He said the government wants to probe through a judicial commission set up under the Inquiry Commission Act-1956, but its findings would not be binding. “Moreover, the government has already rejected the PTI’s demand to include officials of intelligence agencies in the proposed commission,” he added.
It may be noted that Imran Khan had demanded that officials of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) should be included in the commission but the government had said it could not force the apex court’s hand.
According to Dar, the government has publicly announced that if a judicial commission finds the PML-N guilty of a systematic rigging, it would abide by the findings.
Dar said Imran Khan should empower his negotiation team for meaningful negotiations so that the issue could be resolved and political forces join hands with the government to revive the ailing economy.
Imran’s response
However, soon after Dar’s talk with the media, the PTI chief said the call for lockdown of cities – under what he calls his Plan C – will remain intact, adding that on December 18, he will also announce his Plan-D.
“The only way to end the PTI’s sit-in is a free and fair probe into the election rigging. Sit-in will end if an impartial investigation into rigging allegations is held and culprits are brought to justice,” he said.
Imran asked the businessmen in Faisalabad to support the PTI rally in the city scheduled for December 8. “If you want to get rid of the rulers then come and support the PTI,” he asked the businessmen.
He also condemned an incident in Lahore where the PTI supporters were manhandled when they chanted ‘Go Nawaz Go’ slogans during a meeting of the PML-N leader Hamza Shahbaz. “Why Shahbaz Sharif was not beaten up for his ‘Go Zardari Go’ slogan,” he asked.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2014.
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Khan Sb: Yes, a probe is needed and it should be done. So after 100 days of sitting you get what you could have got it at the start, is it smart politics? Do not call it rigging unless it is proved.Also accept whatever comes out of the probe and for god's sake do not start a new dharna again if the probe says that there was only minor election rigging (which has always been in pakistan and will always be) which should not have changed the fate of the outcome of the elections.By the way Khan Sb just a question,if taliban publicly say we will attack anp, ppp and mqm election rallies and not pti,is it rigging, and shouldn't the probe start from here?Trust me Khan Sb you were perceived as Taliban Khan in punjab and people did not hence vote for you.Perceptions in politics/elections are as important as reality.