ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and a government team would hold another round of talks on Friday aimed at attempting to resolve the country's political impasse and reach an agreement on deciding a date for elections, a senior PTI leader said on Thursday.
The first round of election talks between the government and the PTI took place at the Parliament House earlier during the day. The PTI delegation comprised the party's vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain and lawyer Ali Zafar. The government's team included federal ministers Ishaq Dar, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Naveed Qamar and former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani.
The meeting took place as a three-member bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, took up the matter of delay in elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Thursday morning. The controversy was triggered after Khan and his allies dissolved the provincial assemblies of Punjab and KP in January to mount pressure on the government to hold snap polls across the country.
The apex court previously ordered the relevant authorities to hold elections in Punjab on May 14 and instructed the country’s central bank to release necessary funds for the purpose. However, the government objected to the court rulings, saying they amounted to undermining the supremacy of parliament since lawmaking and money matters squarely fall within its domain.
During Thursday's hearing, Justice Bandial urged all political stakeholders to sit together and resolve the political stalemate.
Flanked by Hussain, Qureshi told reporters that both parties have decided to reconvene tomorrow, Friday, for the second round of talks on the issue.
"These discussions should not be used as a delaying tactic," Qureshi said, adding that a solution which is not in harmony with Pakistan's constitution would not be possible to agree to. "Tehreek-e-Insaf wants to give priority to the welfare of the people of Pakistan," he added.
Qureshi said the PTI delegation had consulted ex-PM Khan on the talks, adding that the government would seek the opinion of its leadership.
"We [PTI delegation] said that if you come up with a proposal which is in accordance with the constitution, we will definitely discuss it," Qureshi added.
Former prime minister and Pakistan Peoples Party leader Yousaf Raza Gillani said there is no other way but dialogue to resolve the current deadlock.
"Talks were held today in a positive environment," Gillani said. "We have no demands, we will present their demands in front of our political parties," he added.
While the government and PTI have said they are open to negotiations with each other, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif maintained on Wednesday it was not the apex court’s job to arbitrate among various political factions but “to give judgments as per law and constitution.”
National Assembly speaker, Raja Pervez Ashraf, also wrote a five-page letter to the apex court before Thursday’s hearing, saying the judges should not encroach on parliament’s authority.
“I write to convey the profound concern and deep unease of the National Assembly with the orders passed by a 3-member Bench of the Supreme Court, on 14-04-2023 and 19-04-4-23, directing the State Bank of Pakistan Finance Division, Government of Pakistan to allocate/release Rs. 21 billion to the Election Commission of Pakistan,” he said. “These orders have been passed notwithstanding that such release has expressly been forbidden by the National Assembly.”
Quoting various “unambiguous constitutional provisions” that made it parliament’s prerogative to order the release of such funds, he said the three-member bench had “completely disregarded the constitutional process.”
