ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Abdul Qadir Patel on Wednesday said that his party does not believe in politics of agitation and suggested that negotiations should be the “biggest weapon” in the arsenal of political parties.

“Even in the worst situations political parties should not close the door of negotiations,” he said in a video statement.

Mr Patel said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) needed to prove through its attitude that it was a political party as political parties believed in negotiations.

The statement was issued on a day when Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial gave an option to political parties to sit together and decide a date for the general election, hinting that a unanimously decided date of election would be acceptable for the apex court.

Patel clarifies criticism of ASF chief, says he did not mean to hurt sentiments

After facing the brunt for his speech on the floor of parliament, he said that he had “great respect for the security institutions” as they played a role to protect the country.

It is worth mentioning that while speaking about the incident of Minister for Religious Affairs Mufti Abdul Shakoor who died in a traffic accident in Islamabad, Mr Patel had criticised the withdrawal of official vehicles and security staff from the late minister on an account of austerity measures.

In his speech, the health minister called out the head of the Airport Security Force (ASF) for his extravagant protocol while speaking on the floor of the National Assembly.

“Today I was travelling along with Shazia Marri and another parliamentarian from Karachi to Islamabad. We were side-lined at the Karachi airport as a number of security officials seemed busy with the protocol of a personality and then again the same happened at the Islamabad airport, where we were pushed aside and the way was cleared for the person. I assumed he was the president of some country by looking at the protocol given to him, so I asked the staff and learnt that he was the DG of ASF,” the minister had said on the floor of the house.

Mr Patel also said that his speech was taken out of context and that he did not mean to hurt the sentiments of any security organisation. The health minister said that he did not want to discourage anyone through a speech on the floor of the parliament.

On the other hand, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Sardar Saleem Haider said dialogue was the only way in parliamentary democracy to deal with any kind of crisis.

He was talking to reporters at a reception organised by local PPP leaders in Hassanabdal on Wednesday.

He added that the political crisis has aggravated to the extent that the two supreme institutions were in a state of confrontation, which would drag the country into further crisis. He said that the PPP had formed a reconciliation committee for the sake of national interest. “It is the need of the hour that the path of dialogue be adopted and the country taken out of the crisis,” he said.

“The PPP wants to make a conducive environment for dialogue among the political parties as we believe problems being faced by the county can only be addressed through dialogue,” he added.

Responding to a question, he said that PPP was in favour of dialogue and termed the Jamaat-i-Islami chief’s move to mediate between government and PTI leadership as a “good omen for democracy”.

He also urged state institutions to stay within their constitutional limits and stressed that the government would not allow anyone to interfere in the domain of parliament. “We will not allow anyone to breach the parliament’s jurisdiction,” he added.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2023