ISLAMABAD: The second round of talks between the government and the opposition ended in a deadlock on Tuesday after the latter refused to budge on its main demand for the prime minister’s resignation as the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) sit-in enters the sixth day on Wednesday (today).

Head of the government’s negotiating team and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, talking to media after meeting members of the opposition’s Rehbar Committee for the second consecutive day, admitted that there had been a “deadlock” between them as both sides had stuck to their positions, but hoped that they would succeed in finding some “middle way” as they had agreed to continue the dialogue.

“Talks are on. They (the opposition) have their own stance, we have our own position. We are trying to find a middle way between the two stances,” a dejected defence minister stated without announcing the date and time for the next meeting.

Mr Khattak said that they had faced a similar deadlock on the issue of the venue of the Azadi march, but later it was amicably resolved and the government allowed the marchers to enter Islamabad. Similarly, he hoped, they would succeed in resolving the current deadlock.

Fazl lashes out at Imran’s economic policies

“We are trying to find out a solution so that the honour of the opposition is not hurt and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government too feels content,” Mr Khattak said in an apparent hint that the government was looking for various options to provide a face-saving to JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman for announcing an end to the sit-in.

Saying that the talks were held in a cordial atmosphere, the defence minister claimed that the government had already agreed to several of the opposition’s demands and that talks would continue on the remaining demands when the two sides would meet again after consulting their respective leadership.

Earlier, in his brief introductory remarks, convener of the Rehbar Committee and JUI-F leader Akram Durrani stated that the opposition was still “sticking” to its four demands which it had formally presented to the government on Monday, adding that the “government is trying to find some middle way”.

Mr Durrani reiterated the opposition’s demands which are immediate resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan, snap elections in the country, no role of the army in the electoral process and supremacy of the Constitution.

Sources said at the outset of the talks, the opposition members protested with the government team for constantly making statements that the opposition’s demand for the PM’s resignation had already been rejected. They said talks could not make any headway if the government had already rejected their demand when they were still discussing the matters.

However, the sources said that one of the members of the government team asked the opposition not to stick to its first demand, telling them that their remaining demands were “inter-linked” to the prime minister’s resignation as fresh elections could not be possible without it.

The sources said the government members offered the opposition that it could even constitute a judicial commission to probe the opposition’s charges of rigging in the 2018 elections and it was ready to hold investigations in any of the constituency it desired. The government members also told the opposition that they were ready to revive the dysfunctional parliamentary committee or constitute a new committee to probe the rigging charges. The sources said that the opposition rejected the offer of constituting a judicial commission. However, the opposition members said they could discuss the offer of the formation of a new parliamentary committee after discussing the matter with their leadership.

The sources said the opposition insisted that they should define the terms of the civil-military relationship in clear terms and they should agree on a mechanism to end the army’s interference in the elections and politics on permanent basis in order to strengthen democracy and parliament.

The sources said the opposition members told the government team that the protesters had the arrangements for a longer stay in the capital and the option to march towards some other place was still available to them. One of the JUI-F members told the government team that they had arranged waterproof tents for the Azadi march participants and even the rain could not dampen their spirits.

Regarding the demand for the supremacy of the Constitution, a member of the Rehbar Committee and PPP secretary general Farhatullah Babar had already disclosed that they had fully explained this demand to the government team which included implementation of the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Faizabad sit-in case which had provided a roadmap for ensuring the supremacy of the Constitution.

The PPP leader said that they had also told the government that they would have to make parliament functional and stop doing legislation through presidential ordinances. He said the opposition also wanted the government to ensure media freedom in the country and restrain the role of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority as per the Supreme Court’s decision in the Faizabad sit-in case. Moreover, he said, the opposition had told the government that the National Accountability Bureau and economy could not go together.

Fazl’s speech

Maintaining the tradition of addressing the Azadi march participants at the designated H-9 venue at night time, Maulana Fazlur Rehman once again lashed out at the government’s economic policies. He particularly took the government to task over its recent decision to further hike the power tariff.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2019