ISLAMABAD: The helplessness of the politicians painted a dismal picture on Tuesday as the opposition parties failed in their efforts to reach out to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tehreek and rumours went back and forth in the capital.

It was an early start at Parliament House where both the meetings and the parliamentary session were held together.

Also read: Islamabad march: Imran threatens to storm PM House unless Nawaz steps down

Syed Khursheed Shah, leader of opposition, who held a meeting with other opposition leaders on Monday and Tuesday, had to tell the journalists waiting outside his office in the parliament that he, along with other political parties, was in favour of the supremacy of the constitution, parliament and democracy.

“Hence, we will try our best to facilitate mediation between the government and the PTI and PAT leaders,” he told the media.

He hastened to add: “Our efforts are to ensure the sanctity of the parliament and constitution and not to defend the government.”

When asked to explain, he said that the specific demands of PTI and PAT could only be addressed by the government.

“All we can do is get the two sides to the table, and we want to do this because we want the prevailing political crisis to be resolved so that the threat to the system goes away.”

However, he conceded that neither side was willing to bend — the government was not reaching out and the protesting parties were not willing to talk either.

“We repeatedly contacted the PTI MNAs who promised to check with their head about a meeting and get back, but none of them ever did.”

Confronted by a barrage of questions, a defensive Shah, who was accompanied by JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman, JI’s Liaquat Baloch, MQM’s Rashid Godail and PkMAP’s Mahmood Khan Achakzai, said, “It’s unfair to question our sincerity. We tried and we will continue to strive for the protection and safety of the constitution and democracy in the country.”

As the crowd dispersed, the politicians expressed similar views to the journalists standing around. In fact, one of the leaders told Dawn on the condition of anonymity said that the two sides had taken such maximalist positions that the opposition parties could hardly make a difference.

However, the sincere sounding opposition leaders didn’t seem to have any concrete proposals on how the government, which had spent so long doing nothing, could now convince an intransigent protesting leadership to talk.

A government under pressure

A similar despondency or pressure was writ large on the faces of the government ministers, who were present in the parliament house and were for once more than willing to engage with the media.

However, in their press talks they too could not convince a curious bunch of reporters about the government’s plan in the face of PTI / PAT’s threats to storm the red zone.

All Railway Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique could say was that the government was willing to talk but it could not even get in touch with the PTI and PAT leadership.

Neither did he have anything to say when asked if the government had a plan.

The answers provided by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif were no different.

He was besieged by the media when he left the parliament house and all he could say in return was that “the constitution will take its course”. He then raised his finger towards the sky and remarked, “God will help us.”

He at least managed to silence the journalists.

Around the same time, JI chief Sirajul Haq held a press conference at a house in Islamabad.

He too had nothing hopeful to offer.

He simply repeated his agenda such as the judicial commission completes its investigations within one month; the parliamentary committee for electoral reforms make proposals within 40 days and punishment for those found involved in election rigging.

Emphasising the role of political parties in defending democratic dispensation, he also recommended that the army play an impartial role in the ongoing political crisis.

At a separate meeting between the JUI-F chief and PPP Senator Rehman Malik, the two rued the fact that the leaders of Azadi and Inqilab marches had closed the doors on talks and seemed to be heading for a confrontation.

Rumours rule the roost

No wonder then that Islamabad, which is usually also home to considerable rumours and conspiracy theories, was literally exploding on Tuesday with uncertainty and whispers.

From the minus one formula to the parliament being sent home, everything was part of the gossip doing the rounds, especially in the parliament house.

Many a legislator admitted that they had heard of the possibility of an in-house change.

A senior PPP member said, “We are hearing rumours that if the ruling party is further pressed to the wall, it might bring in a new prime minister instead of letting the system collapse.” However, he was quick to add that this appeared to be unthinkable.

This proposal has been doing the round for some days now in various forms.

Politicians had been whispering that the PML-N had been advised that Nawaz Sharif should step down and let someone else lead the government. Some went further and said that the parliament should set up a national government which could then prepare the ground for a fresh election. However, none of them seemed to be based on anything concrete.

But by Tuesday, these rumours took on a new urgency as they seemed to be uncannily similar to the PTI demands.

While talking to more than one television channel, PTI vice president Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that his party was pushing for the resignation of the prime minister and not the dissolution of the National Assembly.

“Once the prime minister will resign, we will announce our future course of action and how we want to move ahead with our reform of the electoral system,” said Mr Qureshi.

PTI may still be willing to talk?

At the same time, many commentators had noted that PTI had still not submitted their resignations to the Speaker’s Office at the National Assembly, even though they had been signed and collected by the party a day earlier.

When asked, Dr Arif Alvi, PTI MNA, told Dawn that it was up to party chief Mr Imran Khan to take the final decision.

This slackness on the part of the party seemed to suggest that it might have left some room for negotiations and that it had still not committed political suicide. Had it been serious about not turning back, it would have sent the resignations in, pointed out one observer.

Perhaps the party too was waiting for the miracle that Khursheed Shah had mentioned. When asked about the rumours of the minus one formula and the chances of the crisis being resolved he had said, “Miracles do happens. We might just come out of this crisis,” without explaining how.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2014