ISLAMABAD: Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah of PPP has contacted the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leadership and offered to act as a mediator between the PTI and the government in their talks for the formation of a judicial commission to investigate alleged rigging in the 2013 general elections.

According to sources in the PPP, Mr Shah talked to PTI’s Vice Chairman Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi by phone on Tuesday night and discussed with him the political situation. Mr Shah expressed concern over the slow pace of progress in negotiations between the government and the PTI.

Also read: PTI, government continue sparring over commission

The PPP leader told Mr Qureshi that he was prepared to play the role of a mediator to break the deadlock in talks if the two sides gave a written assurance that they would accept his mediation.

The PPP MNA said he would maintain impartiality and take decision on merit.

The last round of talks between the PTI and government took place on Monday night but the two sides, despite claiming a progress, continued to stick to their positions on the proposed judicial commission. There has been no agreement between the two on the terms of reference of the commission.

Meanwhile in a statement issued on Wednesday, the opposition leader urged the PTI to return to parliament and take part in the Senate elections scheduled to be held in early March.

Interestingly, Mr Shah issued the statement on the day the speaker of the Sindh Assembly, belonging to the PPP, accepted resignations of four PTI MPAs.

The remarks made by Mr Qureshi during a press conference in Multan earlier in the day about the PPP’s role in the present crisis show that it is unlikely that the PTI will accept Mr Shah’s offer of mediation.

The PTI leader accused the PPP of adopting double standards as on one hand Rehman Malik as a member of the opposition jirga had been asking the National Assembly speaker not to accept PTI MNAs’ resignations and on the other the Sindh Assembly speaker had accepted resignations of the PTI’s MPAs.

Despite attempts, Mr Qureshi could not be contacted for comments on Mr Shah’s telephonic talk.

LETTER TO PM: Meanwhile, Mr Shah sent a letter on Wednesday to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, expressing concern over alleged interference of the federal government in the formation of a caretaker set-up in Gilgit-Baltistan to hold elections.

In the letter, a copy of which is available with Dawn, Mr Shah criticised the federal government for dropping the name of a nominee of the caretaker chief minister for induction into the cabinet, and instead suggesting its own names. He termed this a violation of the 18th Amendment, saying such actions would make the forthcoming general elections in

Gilgit-Baltistan controversial in the same way as Pakistan’s last polls had been.

Published in Dawn January 22nd , 2015

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