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Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the government have again begun talks although it is hard to predict if the latest round of dialogue will last long enough to reach a resolution. The latest round of talks between the two began at a time when PTI lawmakers in NA resigned from their seats and the House speaker who was elected on a Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) ticket is yet to accept them.
On the other hand, talks between government and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) haven’t progressed enough to reach a definitive point. However, the two groups have agreed to continue the dialogue.
The developments come as Nawaz Sharif is to host former president Asif Ali Zardari for lunch at his Raiwind residence with observers anticipating what today's meeting might bring out.
Follow the day's political happens below
PM cautioned against ‘betrayal from within’
The opposition Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), which is trying to mediate between the government and the protesting parties seeking to oust it through a siege of parliament, warned Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the National Assembly on Friday against a possible betrayal “from within”.
JI parliamentary leader Sahibzada Tariqullah gave the warning in the presence of the prime minister, who, as on all his three previous appearances in the house during a five-day debate on the prevailing political situation in the country, kept his silence, to the frustration of many who wanted to hear from him. Meanwhile, leaders of PTI and PAT continued demanding his resignation as the main condition to end their now eight-day-old sit-ins.
Urging the government to tackle the situation tactfully, Tariqullah said that despite the big strength of the ruling PML-N “I fear some Mir Jafar or Mir Sadiq from within yourselves” could emerge as spoilers. It was a reference to the notorious 18th century figures who betrayed local Muslim rulers to help British forces conquer Bengal and the kingdom of Mysore of that time.
Tariqullah, whose party’s emir, Sirajul Haq, has been shuttling recently between the government and protest leaders along with other mediators, did not give the basis of his fears, but, using an Urdu epithet, expressed his dislike for the day “when we may have to say ‘is ghar ko aag lug gayee ghar ke chiragh se’” (this house caught fire from its own lamp).
A possible exit strategy for PTI?
While Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) continues to stick to its resignation obsession, the opposition political parties and the government appear to be tweaking the former’s proposals into a more palatable form.
It seems as if the political parties as well as some government elements are now suggesting that the resignation of the prime minister should be made conditional to the findings of the judicial commission which the government has asked the Supreme Court to set up to investigate the allegations of rigging during the May 2013 general elections.
Also read: Imran Khan may back down on resignation demand: sources
On Friday, Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif argued that the PTI must look at its list of demands and revise its six demands in reverse order.
The main opposition parties, the PPP and the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI,) were among the first to propose that instead of demanding the removal of the prime minister, the protesting PTI should focus on ensuring that concrete proof is found that the last general elections were heavily rigged in favour of the PML-N.
“I think it’s a good suggestion for the PTI leadership to accept that its demand for the prime minister’s resignation must come at the end,” Khawaja Asif told the media outside the parliament house.
Sharif, Zardari to discuss ways of ending crisis
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari plan to meet in Raiwind today to discuss the political crisis created by two sit-ins in Islamabad and ways of finding a way out.
The prime minister called Zardari and invited him to lunch. The PPP chief, who arrived in Karachi on Thursday, accepted the invitation.
A PPP leader said Zardari would be accompanied at the meeting by senior leaders Syed Khursheed Shah, Aitzaz Ahsan and Raza Rabbani. He will return to Karachi in the evening.
It is learnt that Zardari also plans to meet Jamaat-i-Islami emir Sirajul Haq in Lahore.
According to sources, the prime minister told Zardari that the government believed in resolving political issues through talks and all major political parties in parliament had expressed their determination that they would not allow anyone to derail democracy.
