Govt-PTI negotiations flounder again
Two sides to meet on Sat to talk on 2013 elections
ISLAMABAD:
Another round of talks between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) floundered on Friday, forcing the two sides to meet again on Saturday (today) in the hope of forging elusive consensus on the formation of the proposed judicial commission to probe the 2013 elections.
PTI vice-president Shah Mahmood Qureshi squarely blamed the government for the impasse in the third round of dialogue, arguing that the government should show the same gesture which was shown by his party chief Imran Khan following the Peshawar school incident.
The meeting was held at the residence of PTI general secretary Jahangir Tareen.
Appearing before the media after the meeting, Qureshi said that there was a “limited time-frame to resolve all these pending matters” and warned that the issue could become more complex.
“Only three sections need to be resolved,” commented Senator Ishaq Dar, federal finance minister and a close aide of Nawaz Sharif, adding that “we will try to conclude the third round of talks positively till tomorrow [Saturday],” said the visibly tense Dar.
“I appreciate and congratulate the government for the efforts it has been making to resolve the deadlock,” Qureshi praised while conceding some developments from the government side.
Earlier, Jahangir Tareen had said that the draft, handed to his party during the parliamentary leaders’ meeting on December 24 by Ishaq Dar, was rejected for not being in line with what had already been agreed upon.
An insider revealed that despite PTI’s flexibility on some Terms of Reference (ToRs), the government team did not fulfill its commitment to agree upon status of work and the outcome of the judicial commission.
Another source in the PML-N maintained that the PTI did not show flexibility in the outcome of the commission’s proceedings.
The most of the time we spent during the meeting on the point that negotiations should be started from the agreed draft, while the government’s committee remained adamant with an amended new draft, insiders revealed.
A PTI leader also pointed out that there are only three main points in the draft if they are unresolved than it means that “all rounds of talks” are a complete failure. Both the parties are agreed to the extent of formation of a judicial commission. But there was a difference on all three important aspects including status and end result of the findings of the commission.
Earlier talks between the two had deadlocked over the ToRs for the Judicial Commission (JC) to be formed to probe the rigging allegations.
The PTI had demanded that the JC should include officials from intelligence agencies – a condition not acceptable to the government.
Imran’s party had also demanded that the government set up the JC through an ordinance, which should issue its findings within 45 days.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2014.
Another round of talks between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) floundered on Friday, forcing the two sides to meet again on Saturday (today) in the hope of forging elusive consensus on the formation of the proposed judicial commission to probe the 2013 elections.
PTI vice-president Shah Mahmood Qureshi squarely blamed the government for the impasse in the third round of dialogue, arguing that the government should show the same gesture which was shown by his party chief Imran Khan following the Peshawar school incident.
The meeting was held at the residence of PTI general secretary Jahangir Tareen.
Appearing before the media after the meeting, Qureshi said that there was a “limited time-frame to resolve all these pending matters” and warned that the issue could become more complex.
“Only three sections need to be resolved,” commented Senator Ishaq Dar, federal finance minister and a close aide of Nawaz Sharif, adding that “we will try to conclude the third round of talks positively till tomorrow [Saturday],” said the visibly tense Dar.
“I appreciate and congratulate the government for the efforts it has been making to resolve the deadlock,” Qureshi praised while conceding some developments from the government side.
Earlier, Jahangir Tareen had said that the draft, handed to his party during the parliamentary leaders’ meeting on December 24 by Ishaq Dar, was rejected for not being in line with what had already been agreed upon.
An insider revealed that despite PTI’s flexibility on some Terms of Reference (ToRs), the government team did not fulfill its commitment to agree upon status of work and the outcome of the judicial commission.
Another source in the PML-N maintained that the PTI did not show flexibility in the outcome of the commission’s proceedings.
The most of the time we spent during the meeting on the point that negotiations should be started from the agreed draft, while the government’s committee remained adamant with an amended new draft, insiders revealed.
A PTI leader also pointed out that there are only three main points in the draft if they are unresolved than it means that “all rounds of talks” are a complete failure. Both the parties are agreed to the extent of formation of a judicial commission. But there was a difference on all three important aspects including status and end result of the findings of the commission.
Earlier talks between the two had deadlocked over the ToRs for the Judicial Commission (JC) to be formed to probe the rigging allegations.
The PTI had demanded that the JC should include officials from intelligence agencies – a condition not acceptable to the government.
Imran’s party had also demanded that the government set up the JC through an ordinance, which should issue its findings within 45 days.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2014.