Pakistan Government, Imran Khan’s Party in Crucial Talks to End Electoral Deadlock

The third and crucial round of talks between Pakistan’s coalition government and former premier Imran Khan’s Pakistan party began on Tuesday night to end a deadlock over the timing of provincial and federal elections, an issue that has rocked the country’s politics.

The talks were being held in the backdrop of the controversy with Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf: seeking early polls — particularly in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where assemblies were dissolved in January — and the government maintaining that provincial and federal elections across the country be held on the same day in October.

The talks being held in the Parliament House were scheduled to begin at 11.00 am today but were delayed until 9.00 pm. As the two sides announced last week, they would discuss each other’s proposals to end the deadlock over elections.

The government side included Ishaq Dar, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Azam Nazeer Tarar and Sardar Ayaz Sadiq from the Pakistan Muslims League-Nawaz (PML-N) and they are joined by Yusuf Raza Gilani and Syed Naveed Qamar from the Pakistan Peoples Party and other parties in the coalition government.

The PTI, which is the main opposition party, fielded its Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry and Senator Ali Zafar for talks.

The two sides sounded optimistic ahead of the talks. Qureshi, who is leading the PTI, said that his team was attending the talks to find a solution to the political problems.

“We have come with the hope that our proposal will be taken seriously,” he said, without elaborating on the proposals.

Tarar representing the government side said that the official delegation was serious in talks. “We want all decisions to be taken in the meeting,” he said.

Earlier, Imran Khan said that the government should dissolve all assemblies by May 14 to pave the way for holding elections in the entire country on the same date. However, the government is not ready to dissolve assemblies.

The first round of talks was held on April 27 which went on for two hours and the rivals decided to meet again after consulting their party heads.

It was followed by the second round on April 28 when two sessions were held and at the end Dar said each side had tabled two proposals, which would be presented to the respective leadership.

The issue of elections has rocked Pakistani politics as Imran Khan demanded snap polls when he was voted out of power in April last year.

As he failed to reach his goal through protest, Khan dissolved the assemblies in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces where his party was in power.

As per the law, elections should be held within 90 days of the dissolution of an assembly.

However, the government used delaying tactics by citing a lack of funds and a rise in terrorism for setting a date for polls in the two provinces while pushing the narrative that provincial and federal elections should be held on the same day in the country after the completion of the term of the National Assembly in August.

The issue was later heard in the Supreme Court which ordered that elections should be held in Punjab on May 14 and the government should provide Rs21 billion for its to the Election Commission of Pakistan. It had set April 27 as the last date for the provision of funds.

The government has not provided the funds and openly announced that it will defy the order to hold the elections on May 14.

The talks began when the apex court indicated that it was ready to show flexibility on the election date if the political parties agreed on a consensus to hold provincial and federal elections in the entire country on the same date.

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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)