LAHORE: As talks between the government and Pakistan Tahreek-i-Insaf hit deadlock on Monday over the demand for prime minister’s resignation, Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar has been tasked to convince Imran Khan to budge from his stance.

“Primarily, there are three main demands of the PTI. We discussed two of them in detail and the government agreed to the PTI’s proposal to appoint heads of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) and secretary to the Election Commission with its consultation,” said the governor who was part of the government team in talks with the PTI.

Mr Sarwar told Dawn the government had also offered the chairmanship of the electoral reforms committee to the PTI.

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“We also agreed to the resignation of the prime minister provided rigging charges are proved in the judicial commission’s probe in 30 days. We told the PTI team that there would be no moral and legal justification for the prime minister to stay in power in case the rigging charges were proved. But how the punishment could be handed down without establishing the charges,” he said.

The governor, however, found demand for a ‘stop-gap’ prime minister impracticable. “Resignation of the prime minister for a month is the only point not acceptable to the government and Mr Khan is not budging an inch from this demand,” he said.

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When asked how he would convince Mr Khan to budge from his stance of Nawaz Sharif’s resignation as PTI chief had made it clear come what may he would not withdraw (the demand), the governor said: “I will engage other parties like Jamaat-i-Islami, Muttahida Qaumi Movement and PPP to help the government in this regard. I will speak to Mr Khan on this issue and appeal to him to review his stance in the country’s interest. I am still optimistic that Mr Khan will reconsider this demand. We don’t want Imran Khan or Dr Tahirul Qadri to appear losers at the end of the day. Even the prime minister is ready to talk to Mr Khan.”

Mr Sarwar said the government had not given up hope of reengaging the PTI. He hinted that speaker might not accept the resignations of PTI legislators.

“I have appealed to the National Assembly speaker not to accept the PTI MNAs resignations,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2014