A day after PTI chief Imran Khan expressed his willingness to ‘talk to anyone’ for the sake of the country, its interests and democracy, PTI has asked the Government to come out with a formal invitation for the purpose. Former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Friday urged the coalition government to “give a date and venue” for a meeting to bring all political parties to the negotiating table.
The offer of talk was repeated by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday during his interaction with a delegation of Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) when he emphasized that all political forces will have to sit for dialogue to rid the country of the ongoing political and economic crises. The positive response of the PTI to the offer of dialogue is a welcome sign as it avoided talks with political rivals both during its four-year tenure in Government and now in Opposition. Sincere efforts were also made by President Dr. Arif Alvi for the sake of national reconciliation but those bore no fruit mainly because of lack of positive response from the PTI leadership. PTI even refused to attend the APC convened by the Government to discuss the serious issue of resurgence in terrorism on the flimsy ground that it has not been extended an invitation in a proper way. Political tension is consistently rising in the country despite the fact that elections have been announced in Punjab and KP and there is dire need to have substantive dialogue to sort out differences at the negotiating table as it would help create a congenial atmosphere to make the electoral exercise calm and peaceful. The willingness to talk is a welcome development but it is all the more important that the two sides should also announce a ceasefire as far as propaganda campaigns in the shape of provocative statements and fake reports on social media. The existing messy situation would benefit none and therefore, the political parties should have substantive dialogue to find a way out in a peaceful manner. In an ideal situation, all issues should have been debated and resolved from the platform of Parliament but in the absence of PTI from the National Assembly, a formal dialogue outside Parliament can help reduce political tension provided all issues are discussed in an open and threadbare manner and decisions taken not to suit parties but in the overall interests of the country.
