THOUGH no breakthrough was made in the talks between the representatives of the coalition government and the opposition PTI on the issue of next general election, the resolve of the two sides to continue dialogue and resume it next Tuesday is an achievement in itself. The continuation of the process and somewhat flexibility demonstrated by them in their two rounds of talks sparks confidence for a positive outcome of the exercise.
It is encouraging that the government, which was previously insisting on holding elections in October, has shown its willingness to do so in September and now PTI would come out with a response in the next round of dialogue. PTI is demanding dissolution of the remaining assemblies in May and general elections in July but there are technical hitches in the proposition. As pointed out by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, Sindh and Balochistan governments want their assemblies to complete their constitutional terms, which expires on August 13 and the Federal Government cannot force them to do otherwise. It means assemblies can be dissolved in August and elections can be held at the earliest in September as the ECP is required to make necessary logistic arrangements and follow a timeline for the election schedule. As talks were apparently moving in the right direction, there are uncalled for statements from both sides that amount to vitiating the environment. PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s statement that there was no point in talking to the government if it was not willing to dissolve the National Assembly in May and insists on holding elections in September/October and remarks of Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif that it was fruitless to talk to PTI were unnecessary and should have been avoided. There is nothing wrong with talking to each other in a bid to sort out differences amicably and there was no harm if the general election was held a few weeks later or earlier than the dates desired by the two sides.
