ISLAMABAD: While members of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) camped outside the National Assembly speaker’s office on Wednesday, political leaders from the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) as well as the opposition jirga — which has been trying to negotiate a settlement between the government and protesters — campaigned vociferously with the government in an effort to delay the acceptance of the resignations even further.

A JI delegation met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the PM’s Office. A terse statement issued by the PM’s Office after the meeting stated simply that a six-member delegation, led by JI Secretary General Liaquat Baloch, called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and “discussed the overall political situation in the country”.

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The meeting was also attended by MNAs Sahibzada Tariqullah, Sher Akbar Khan, Sahibzada Mohammad Yaqoob, JI Sindh leader Dr Mirajul Huda Siddiqui and Karachi chapter head Hafiz Naeemur Rehman. Federal ministers Ahsan Iqbal and Khawaja Saad Rafique were also present.

A source in the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz told Dawn that the meeting was a part of the PM’s now-regular interactions with politicians from the other side of the aisle. “At the moment, the hottest political issue is that of the PTI’s protest against the government and the sitting discussed the situation in detail,” he said.

He said that all lawmakers, including the JI, wanted the current democratic set-up to continue and were making efforts to ensure that the political crisis was defused amicably.

None of the JI members who met the prime minister could be reached for comment and an otherwise active JI media wing on Wednesday simply released photos of the party delegation meeting the prime minister.

Being coalition partners with the PTI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Jamaat has been lobbying for a peaceful settlement of the political crisis since the protesters descended on Islamabad on Independence Day.

Opposition jirga

Separately, a meeting of the opposition jirga – of which JI chief Sirajul Haq is also a member – was convened at the residence of Senator Rehman Malik of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). At the meeting, jirga members called on National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq not to act on the resignations “at least during the month of Muharram”.

Meanwhile, talking to reporters after the jirga meeting, JI chief Sirajul Haq said that accepting PTI MNAs’ resignations now would only lend weight to demands for mid-term elections.

He said that the PTI should not make this a matter of ego and return to the negotiating table to thrash out a solution. “Now it seems the PTI wants to resume talks, but the government looks reluctant,” he added. The government, Mr Haq said, should take the lead in asking for talks now. Otherwise it will have to do so a few months down the line.

Senator Rehman Malik told the media that if the standoff continued, things could turn bad for the government.

Accepting the resignations of PTI MNAs would harm both democracy and the government, he said, adding that, “threat(s) to democracy are still looming”.

According to a statement issued on Wednesday night, jirga members agreed that if the resignations were accepted, the Election Commission of Pakistan would be bound to conduct by-elections on all vacant seats. This, they said, was not feasible at a time when Pakistan was facing numerous socio-economic and security challenges.

Published in Dawn, October 30th , 2014