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ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has indicated that it could withdraw its call for a countrywide shutdown on Dec 18 if the government announced the formation of an already agreed-upon judicial commission to probe alleged rigging in last year’s general elections.
The party, however, is determined to go ahead with its plan to shut down Lahore on Monday and is not willing to begin full-fledged negotiations with the government before Tuesday, according to PTI Information Secretary Dr Shireen Mazari.
Addressing a press conference at the party’s Central Secretariat on Saturday, she said, “If the judicial commission is formed before Dec 18, then we can think about calling off our countrywide strike.” However, she was adamant that the party “would not withdraw the call for the Lahore protest, come what may”.
She said that party nominee Asad Umar would meet Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal for their scheduled meeting on Sunday, but formal talks between the two parties would not begin until later in the week.
Mr Iqbal, who is part of the government team tasked with negotiating with the PTI, said the government was ready to formally begin talks from Sunday, but PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi was not available due to other engagements. He said the PTI had asked that the formal resumption of dialogue be postponed until Tuesday.
The minister, however, said that he would meet Asad Umar on Sunday to lay some groundwork for the formal talks and set the ball rolling.
When asked for a reaction to the PTI’s offer of withdrawing their strike call for Dec 18 if a judicial commission was formed, he said the government was doing everything it could to convince the PTI to end its protest.
Mr Iqbal hoped that the PTI chief Imran Khan would use “moderate language” in his speeches while the talks were ongoing to cool political temperatures. “If they cannot decrease it, I hope they will not increase the temperature.”
The minister said that Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri had shown “more maturity” and adopted “sensible approach” when he sent his team for negotiations with the government.
Earlier, at the PTI’s news conference, Dr Mazari claimed that the government had already agreed that the judicial commission would be formed through a presidential ordinance and that its recommendations would be binding upon all.
She said the PTI had given a great concession to the government by withdrawing its demand for the prime minister’s resignation.
She said the trust deficit between the two parties could only be removed through actions and time would tell what the government’s intentions were in these talks.
The PTI information secretary also called for the arrest of former Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah for his alleged involvement in the violence in Faisalabad earlier this week.
Armed with video footage and photos, the PTI leader tried to establish that Rana Sanaullah was the mastermind of the Faisalabad tragedy, which claimed the life of a PTI activist on Dec 8. She said that all those involved in the violence against PTI activists had been caught on camera with Rana Sanaullah.
She also insisted that stick-wielding PTI activists were carrying these weapons for self-defence purposes only.
Imran’s warning
The PTI chief, meanwhile, warned the PML-N government against trying to sabotage his party’s planned shutdown of Lahore.
Addressing his supporters from atop from his D-Chowk container, Mr Khan said that Nawaz Sharif would be responsible in case “government touts” tried to turn the protest violent.
He claimed that recent positive developments on election-related matters pending before election tribunals were happening because of the sit-in.
He mentioned the Nadra report presented before an election tribunal that acknowledged that fake votes were cast in NA-125, the one of the four constituencies that PTI claims were heavily rigged. PTI’s Hamid Khan lost that seat to PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique.
But Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said that Mr Khan, who avoided confrontation with the Sindh government in Karachi by remaining calm and conciliatory, was looking angry and confrontational in Lahore.
In a statement issued on Saturday, he condemned PTI `hooligans’ attacks on journalists in Karachi and said that only mediapersons from groups that Mr Khan had abused in his speeches were attacked.
Published in Dawn December 14th , 2014
