OFFICIALLY both the Government and the PTI maintain there were no formal negotiations between the two but reports suggest positive initial contacts leading to an understanding to use parliamentary forum for resolution of differences and initiation of unconditional dialogue. The understanding was reached during a meeting between National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq and senior PTI leaders including Asad Qaiser, Omar Ayub and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza at the Speaker House in Islamabad. The development follows formation of a five-member dialogue team by the PTI and readiness of the party to hold talks with the Government.
This is, indeed, a positive move with potential to ease the political tension caused by inelastic attitude towards the dialogue process which is the only solution to the myriads of challenges facing the country. The PTI talked about dialogue on a number of occasions in the past but no progress was made because of reluctance of the party to engage into dialogue with anyone except the Establishment and acceptance of pre-conditions by the other side. The party also preferred protests over dialogue and this pattern was repeated recently when a ‘do or die’ march was organized to press for its demands for release of ‘political’ prisoners, return of the electoral mandate and revocation of the 26th Constitutional Amendment. After the ‘do or die’ campaign fizzled out, the party again hurled threats of launching ‘civil disobedience’ movement if the Government did not accept its demands about release of “political prisoners” currently facing trial and the establishment of a Judicial Commission to investigate the violent crackdown on PTI supporters during the May 9, 2023 protests and the November 26 crackdown on PTI protesters. It was because of the aggressive tone of the party leadership that the Government ignored the ultimatum asking the PTI to go ahead with its plan, hoping it would meet the same fate as a similar campaign met after the fall of the PTI government. In this backdrop, the change of heart on the part of the party augurs well for the overall political environment of the country and for the party itself. Reacting to the PTI’s latest stance on negotiations, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif pointed out that only a few days ago, the party considered talks with the Establishment acceptable, while dismissing negotiations with the Government as “forbidden.” He referred to this as a sign of the changing political climate. There seems to be a trust deficit between the two sides which needs to be bridged and this can happen only if confidence building measures are announced by both sides. This is evident from the remarks of the Minister who questioned the reliability of PTI founder Imran Khan, stating that while negotiations are important, it remains unclear who could guarantee Khan’s commitment to any agreements, as his stance is known to change frequently. The PTI has shown somewhat flexibility by agreeing to unconditional dialogue and now it is for the Government to take the process forward through ‘give and take’. Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar has maintained that the PTI should first express remorse and apologize for incidents on May 9 and November 26, accusing them of fabricating a false narrative to damage the state’s reputation. It is hoped this will not be put as a condition for initiation of dialogue and instead the issue should be discussed and sorted out during formal talks. Chairman of the PTI Barrister Gohar Khan has made an appeal to the National Assembly to look into the grievances of the party which is also a positive sign as the parliament is the proper forum for raising such issues. Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar welcomed the opposition’s decision to go for dialogue instead of street politics but it is time to allow the parliament to play its mandated role in steering the country forward.
