ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has tasked Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Chief Sirajul Haq to convince Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to step back from his demand for general elections in Punjab on May 14. However, Haq did not suggest any date for the dissolution of the National Assembly, Sindh, and Balochistan provincial assemblies.
The Prime Minister’s move comes after a year of high-voltage political tensions between the ruling coalition led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI). The situation still looks grim as PTI leadership is facing 121 cases with over 3000 party workers arrested.
After Haq held separate meetings with both the Prime Minister and Imran Khan on Saturday, he reported a “positive response” from both sides for holding talks on the issue of elections. Now, instead of engaging in direct dialogue, both parties will route their talks through the JI.
According to a senior JI leader, “Siraj ul Haq was engaged by the Prime Minister to help dissuade Imran Khan from elections in Punjab on May 14, but he did not give any road map for general elections across the country on the same day.”
PM Shehbaz and Imran Khan positively responded to talks offer
The JI leader said both the government and PTI had formed their negotiation committees to hold the talks, but they want to evolve consensus across the political arena. “We will be meeting Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Asif Ali Zardari shortly as we plan to travel to Islamabad tomorrow (on Tuesday),” he said.
When asked about the PDM government not honouring the Supreme Court verdicts and how it would honour JI Chief’s efforts, he said, “We do not have any road map suggested by the Prime Minister, but our efforts are to evolve consensus for general elections on the same day and same date, but Imran Khan has said let the National Assembly and provincial assemblies be dissolved first, to begin with, negotiation process.”
He also denied any All Parties Conference (APC) idea and said, “After taking on board all stakeholders, we would finalize the agreement in legal terms for general elections on the same day and go to the Supreme Court to defer the May 14 elections. Should we fail, there is a possibility of a Supra Constitution step,” and feared a military takeover.
The PML-N has tasked Ayaz Sadiq and Saad Rafique to hold talks, while the PTI has formed a three-member panel comprising Pervez Khattak, Mahmood-ur-Rashid, and Ejaz Chaudhry for the task in response to the “consensus offensive” of the Jamaat-e-Islami.
