ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: After a day filled with frantic consultations and multiple press conferences, the three-month long deadlock between the government and the protesting Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf was broken on Wednesday when the latter accepted the ruling party’s offer to return to the negotiating table.

The formal offer for resumption of “unconditional and decisive” talks was made by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar at a press conference in Lahore. Responding to the invitation, PTI chief Imran Khan announced from atop his container that the government had agreed to resume talks under pressure from the PTI.

Addressing a press conference at his Bani Gala residence earlier in the day, Mr Khan had signalled a thaw when he said, “I am not fond of demonstrations and am willing to call off our protests if the government conducts an independent audit of the elections.”

Speaking to his supporters at D-Chowk, the PTI chief said the Plan C would only be called off after the formation of the judicial commission.

“If the government is sincere, a commission can be formed within 24 hours,” he said, giving the ruling party 48 hours to do so before the PTI proceeded with its plans to shut down Karachi.

But sources told Dawn that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had finally caved in to pressure from all sides when he gave Mr Dar the green signal to formally invite the PTI to resume dialogue, which was suspended in September.

Federal ministers Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Ahsan Iqbal, Pervez Rashid, Khawaja Asif, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Abdul Qadir Baloch and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan also attended the meeting.

Immediately after the meeting at the PM House, Mr Dar flew to Lahore with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and announced the decision at a press conference of his own.

Information Minister Pervez Rashid was scheduled to hold a news conference to respond to Imran Khan’s presser earlier in the day, but the event was cancelled at the eleventh hour following the breakthrough at the PM House meeting.

Journalists waited for nearly 45 minutes for the minister at the Press Information Department, but were later told that the news conference had been cancelled because it coincided with the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Malala Yousafzai, which was taking place in Oslo.

However, sources in the PML-N said the information minister was restrained from holding his press talk to prevent souring relations between the two parties before dialogue was initiated.

“We aren’t placing any condition on resumption of the talks, but expect that being patriotic Pakistanis, (the PTI) will cancel their plan to close Karachi on Friday (Dec 12) and Lahore on Dec 15,” Mr Dar told reporters at his press talk held at the chief minister’s secretariat.

Mr Dar said the government’s team would include Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal and himself, while nominations from the PTI side were yet to be received.

However, sources in the PTI indicated that Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Asad Umar would lead talks from the protesting party’s side.

The finance minister also said his party would step down if the proposed commission gave a verdict against it, adding, however, that the PTI would also have to accept the commission’s decision.

Sources said that although Mr Dar had announced that talks would be unconditional, the government team was expected to formally ask the protesting party to call off its planned shutdowns of major cities as a goodwill gesture.

Some of those present at Wednesday’s meeting at the PM House suggested that the government link the resumption of dialogue with the PTI calling off its planned protests in Karachi and Lahore, but the PM rejected the idea and left it to the negotiating team to convince the PTI on this front.

The sources quoted the PM as saying that if they did not initiate dialogue now, then the parties that had hitherto been supporting the PML-N would also blame the government for the consequences.

There is also a section of the party which believes that the PML-N could not afford a repeat of the Faisalabad incident when the PTI leadership arrives in Lahore to enforce its shutdown plan.

However, the PML-N is not taking any chances and, assuming that the PTI was unlikely to suspend Plan C, continued preparations to counter the protest in Lahore.

An hour after Mr Dar’s interaction with the media, the provincial government convened a meeting of the city’s traders at the same venue to finalise a strategy for the purpose. There, the CM’s adviser Khawaja Ahmad Hassaan and MNA Pervaiz Malik as well as the Lahore commissioner and city police chief assured traders’ representatives that their lives and properties would be protected at all cost.

“No one can face the power of the state if it decides to do something… and the state will be siding with you on Dec 15,” Mr Malik told the traders, urging them to demonstrate patience in dealing with the PTI protesters .

Traders were told that a four-tier security plan was ready and the protests would be monitored with by CCTV cameras from a central control room to be set up for the purpose in order to ensure a rapid response in the case of an untoward incident.

Published in Dawn December 11th , 2014