Imran’s party ready for further talks
PTI REACHES OUT TO GOVERNMENT BUT GIVES NOINDICATION THAT IT WILL DROP ITS DEMAND FOR PM TO STEP DOWN
Asenior politician within the Pakistan Tehreek- e- Insaf ( PTI) told parliament yesterday that the party is ready for further negotiations with the government to resolve the current political impasse.
Addressing a joint session of the lower and upper houses of the parliament, Shah Mahmoud Quraishi, however, gave no indication the party would retreat from its demand that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif step down.
While the government has ruled out Sharif’s resignation and has the backing of parliament, PTI chairman Imran Khan has vowed to continue with the 20- day- old sit- in protest near the parliament until Sharif steps down.
Quraishi came to the session along with some other PTI lawmakers to respond to accusations levelled against the party by ruling party lawmakers and other legislators on the opening day of the session on Tuesday.
Some 30 PTI lawmakers have tendered their resignations but the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ayaz Sadiq, is yet to accept them. “[ The] PTI never was and never will be part of any script or grand plan that will undermine democracy and the constitution of Pakistan,” Quraishi said, as he responded to accusations made in certain quarters implicating the army in the scheme of things.
Quraishi sought to distance his party from the march on parliament and the Prime Minister’s House made a few days ago by workers of Tahirul Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek ( PAT) party. The move sparked clashes with police that left hundreds injured.
Police shooting
He added that the PTI had pleaded with Qadri to avoid the step but the PAT leader had contended that he could not restrain his party workers and supporters who were enraged over the non- registration of a case by Lahore police regarding a June 17 incident, in which 14 of their colleagues were killed and scores injured after being fired upon by police.
Quraishi said while his party had given the government a working paper to facilitate negotiations, the government had not entertained demands for a vote audit in only four constituencies which the PTI had originally demanded on the basis that the 2013 election was grossly manipulated.
According to him, this had left his party with no option but to launch a movement, a move which had precipitated in the current crisis.
Quraishi emphasised that the country could not have a true democracy without free, fair and transparent elections.
He pointed out that most political parties including the main opposition Pakistan People’s Party had publicly stated that the 2013 elections had been massively rigged.
“We have to put in place a mechanism that ensures fair and free elections to establish a genuine democratic system to address issues of poverty, illiteracy, regional disparities, extremism and militancy,” he said.
The prime minister left the house when Quraishi took the floor and returned after he had departed. The PTI leader was booed and interrupted intermittently by ruling party members.
Protests turned deadly last weekend after thousands tried to storm the premier’s residence. The outburst of violence has prompted fears that the country’s powerful army might intervene and even topple Sharif. Tensions, however, had eased by yesterday, with only a few thousand hard- core supporters camped peacefully outside parliament in the high- security Red Zone area at the centre of the capital Islamabad.
Inching to solution
After weeks of deadlock, early signs have emerged that protest leaders Imran, a former cricket star, and Qadri, a firebrand cleric, are inching closer to trying to find a negotiated solution to end the confrontation.
“Wehave put all our demands in front of the opposition jirga [ mediating team],” said Raheeq Abbasi, Qadri’s right- handman, adding that his camp would then hold a separate meeting with government representatives later in the evening.
“If the jirga thinks that any of our demands are in violation of Pakistan’s constitution, the law and democracy, then we would be willing to let go of [ such a] demand.”
Khan’s camp is also expected to follow suit and present its demands to the mediating team.