By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has formed a three-member body to facilitate dialogue between the government and the opposition, including ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The three senior leaders, former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani, Commerce Minister Syed Naveed Qamar, and PM’s adviser Qamar Zaman Kaira will engage with allies in the coalition government to reach a consensus on dialogue with all political parties.
The primary focus of the committee is to persuade Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz and Maulana Fazal-ur Rehman’s JUI-F to hold talks with Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on all issues, including elections, to end the ongoing political and judicial crisis.
PPP’s Kaira said the party is primarily concerned about the “deadlock” among the political players. The committee will speak to their allies first and try to convince them to hold talks with the opposition. Once they succeed, they would talk to the PTI to respond to the government’s offer of dialogue.
In a recent development, ousted Prime Minister Khan has shunned his hard stance of not sitting with what he calls ‘thieves’, saying he is willing to hold talks, including with the establishment, on the issue of elections.
The current crisis emerged from the delay in elections for the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which were dissolved by Khan’s party in January before the expiry of their mandated five-year terms, in a bid to force early nationwide elections.
Khan had sought to trigger the provincial ballots by dissolving two local assemblies he controlled, as part of a strategy for forcing an early national vote he is convinced he will win.
The country has been on edge since Khan was removed from office in a no-confidence vote about a year ago.
The former cricket star turned Islamist politician has staged massive rallies to demand a snap general election. Along the way, he survived an apparent assassination attempt.
At the same time, Khan has faced mounting legal charges that he says are politically motivated, leading to clashes between police and his supporters.
However, the Sharifs – former prime minister Nawaz Shairf, daughter Marrium Nawaz and current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif — do not want elections in Punjab therefore see no point in holding talks with PTI.
The government has been trying to delay the provincial polls with the plea that elections should be held after August 2023 when the current House term ends.
Pakistan historically holds the provincial and national elections together.
Prime Minister Sharif’s government says it is not economically viable to hold snap elections in both provinces.
Later, the election watchdog postponed an election in the Punjab province – originally scheduled for April 30, citing an abysmal law and order situation in the country.
This prompted Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party to ask the Supreme Court to intervene.
The Supreme Court intervened and ordered snap polls in the most populated Punjab province to be held on May 14, and said a date could be agreed later for the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, pending some technical issues.
The supreme court ruled on 1 March that the new elections be held within 90 days and ordered the government to provide the required funds to ECC for holding polls.
Pakistan has faced a full-blown constitutional crisis after the Supreme Court ruled that provincial elections should go ahead, while parliament rejected the order.
The government, through parliament, ruled against providing funds for provincial snap polls ordered by the Supreme Court, creating new discord between the judiciary and government amid months of political turmoil.
This decision has created new discord between the judiciary and the government. Additionally, the government has introduced a bill to limit the powers of the chief justice to take suo-moto notice and to form benches of his choice, putting them in direct conflict with Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial.
The bill was passed by the National Assembly and Senate, but the court has issued an order directing the government to stop enforcement of the new law.
Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has also called for a national dialogue as the only way to solve the country’s myriad of issues.
He urged Prime Minister Sharif to come forward and announce a national dialogue to address the country’s problems, stating that holding elections was of “secondary importance” and not a solution for the problems being faced by the country.
Abbasi stressed that decisions needed to be made on matters that go beyond elections.
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