ISLAMABAD, Dec 5: The joint committee formed by former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif failed on Wednesday after its second meeting to reach consensus on a charter of demands.
Sources told Dawn that the two issues that had separated the two sides so far were: the reinstatement of judges and the launch of a movement against the president in case of an agreement on a boycott of the general election.
They said the All Parties Democratic Movement favoured a tough stand on the judges’ issue and lifting of emergency before elections, but the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy was non-committal.
Raza Rabbani and Dr Safdar Abbasi of the Pakistan People’s Party, Naveed Malik of Pakistan Solidarity Front and Abdul Qadeer Khamosh of Markazi Ulema Alhidis from the ARD and Ahsan Iqbal and Ishaq Dar of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Prof Khurshid Ahmed of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and Senator Abdul Rahim Mandokhel of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party from the APDM attended the four-hour meeting held at the Parliament House building.
A handout was issued by the office of Mr Rabbani claiming that “the committee has finalised a number of recommendations with consensus relating to benchmarks and framework for holding of free and fair elections”.
It said the committee would meet again on Thursday to complete its work.
On Tuesday, Mr Rabbani had claimed unanimity on 95 per cent of the issues. He told Dawn on Wednesday that they could not discuss the remaining ‘five per cent’ contentious issues.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said that reinstatement of the sacked judges was the number one demand of the nation and they could not ignore it.
He said the joint ARD-APDM committee comprised 90 per cent of the country’s democratic forces and therefore, it had acquired a great importance. He said another task before the committee was to set a timeframe for the government for acceptance of the demands.
He said the charter would not be made public before a formal approval by the ARD and the APDM leadership.
Mr Iqbal said that Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, in his meeting with Nawaz Sharif, had agreed to talk to the ARD and the APDM on the poll boycott after finalisation of the draft of charter of demands.
Both Mr Rabbani and Mr Iqbal said that the committee would complete its task on Thursday.According to the sources, Ms Bhutto wants the committee to come out with a strategy in case the parties decide to boycott the polls. They said she wanted to know the structure under which the alliances would launch a movement to oust President Musharraf after boycotting the polls.
The two alliances’ leadership asked the committee to prepare a plan for an anti-Musharraf movement. The committee would decide who would lead the movement and who would succeed President Musharraf in the event of his ouster.
The sources said the PPP chairperson had reservations over the past role of the MMA leadership.
