ISLAMABAD: Negotia­tors from the ruling PML-N and the PTI spent a busy weekend trying to salvage their March 20 accord over the constitution of a judicial commission to investigate rigging allegations in the last general elections. The agreement suffered a setback on Friday when PTI chief Imran Khan accused the government of backing out of it.

Sources in both parties told Dawn that negotiators were busy sandpapering whatever differences had surfaced over the agreement announced on March 20. Representatives of the government and the PTI held detailed in-house meetings over the weekend and exchanged notes on the remaining bones of contention.

“I’m hopeful of a significant development towards the proposed commission within this week,” a senior PTI leader privy to the development told Dawn. The ruling party sent out similar positive vibes.

On Friday, the PTI chairman had said his party had already yielded enough ground and there would be yet more discussion on the commission’s terms of reference. According to Mr Khan, the government wanted to revise the agreed-upon MoU.

But what changed over the past week that prompted Mr Khan to threaten to take to the streets again? Jahangir Khan Tareen, the PTI general secretary and lead negotiator in talks with the government told Dawn on Friday that Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt had called him and asked for changes in the agreed MoU.

Explaining the changes the AG had asked for, Mr Tareen said the PM would only dissolve the National Assembly and announce new elections if the proposed commission found positive evidence on three main critical accounts: that the PML-N manipulated election results in its favour; that election results didn’t reflect true mandate of the people; and that elections weren’t conducted impartially, honestly, fairly and justly overall.

PTI accuses govt of changing its mind; govt insists it’s only doing ‘due diligence’

Secondly, the government wanted to secretly change the clause related to the consensus over the appointment of the FIA director general, National Database and Registration Authority chairman and Election Commission, which was part of the agreement.

Thirdly, according to Mr Tareen, the attorney general said that as long as the judicial commission was conducting its investigation, neither side would issue any statement on the subject of election rigging.

“That means a complete gag order,” said Mr Tareen, adding that in so many words, this meant, “Heads I win, tails you lose.”

On the other side, a government source told Dawn that the changes being proposed to the MoU were being made to cover the risk factors that had cropped up after the agreement.

“The government is not trying to backtrack on the investigation, but they want to ensure that no legal holes remain unplugged as far as the proposed MoU and judicial commission are concerned.”

Until the MoU is formally signed and an ordinance issued, both sides can suggest changes, he said when asked why the government was asking for changes to an already-agreed upon document.

Although neither Mr Tareen nor Senator Ishaq Dar — the chief negotiators from both sides — were available for comment on Sunday over a possible final date for the signing of the MoU, sources on both sides told Dawn a final announcement could be made at any time.

The Senate session is scheduled to commence on April 6 and the presidential ordinance must be issued before then, giving the government a week in which to constitute the commission.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play