ISLAMABAD: The offer made by Prime Minister on Tuesday evening was ‘inspired’ by the press conference held by PTI chief Imran Khan on Monday, claim government officials.

After hearing Mr Khan unveil the identities of those he thinks helped carry out the organised rigging in May 2013, on Tuesday morning the government was advised by some of its legal advisers that it should now offer to set up a judicial commission to investigate the allegations of election rigging, Dawn has learnt from government officials as well as political sources.

“After the PTI chief accused the former chief justice (retired) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and caretaker chief minister Punjab, Najam Sethi, along with senior officials of Election Commission of Pakistan of election rigging, the government’s legal eagles advised the prime minister to use the opportunity to place the burden of proving the evidence on Mr Khan,” said a senior government functionary who was part of the political huddle that took place in Lahore on Monday night and the frantic discussions that were held in Islamabad on Tuesday morning.

On Monday afternoon, Khan had also accused ECP’s Justice (retired) Riaz Kiani, Chief Election Commissioner Punjab, Mahboob Anwar and former senior judge of the Supreme Court Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday of helping the PML-N win an unfair victory in May 2013.

On Tuesday morning, the prime minister was advised that if a judicial commission was formed at this stage and accepted by the PTI, it would help the government’s case.

Apparently, the prime minister was told that Mr Khan would have to provide the evidence against the accused in a court, which would not be easy to furnish, explained the government official.

When asked by Dawn, former PPP attorney general who served from 2010 to 2012, Maulvi Anwarul Haq, agreed that as the PTI chief had publicly accused specific officials, he would be asked to prove his claim if such a commission was formed.

The legal advisers told the government this could prove to be a win-win situation – because if he accepted the commission, the burden of proof lay with Mr Khan and if he rejected it, the government would be seen as flexible and he intransigent.

It was further pointed out that Imran Khan had on more than one occasion demanded an independent inquiry commission to probe the election result, said a legal eagle of the government, who is not allowed to speak to the media.

Once the prime minister was convinced of the advantages of this move, senior PML-N leaders were taken on board because a number of them were not in favour of providing any relief to the PTI.

The prime minister spoke to some of these leaders, explaining that “in the current political scenario, the commission suited the government well”.

Nawaz Sharif is said to have called those who were not in the city, including Chief Minister Punjab, and informed them personally. However, regardless of how the move was viewed by those within the party, it has not gone down too well with the other political parties and analysts.

Many have called it a case of “too little too late.”

Published in Dawn, Aug 13th, 2014