ISLAMABAD: Even as opposition parties signal readiness for dialogue on national issues, the government has conveyed to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership that the February 8, 2024 general elections will remain off the table in any dialogue process, well-placed sources told this correspondent.
According to the sources, the government has made it clear that there will be no negotiations on rejecting the 2024 elections, forming a commission on last year polls, or handing over power to the opposition through talks. Any grievances related to the polls, the sources said, will continue to be addressed strictly through election tribunals and courts, whose verdicts would be accepted even if they go entirely against the ruling parties.
The message, conveyed to PTI’s senior leadership, has been conveyed to the Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayin-e-Pakistan (TTAP), the opposition alliance led by Mahmood Khan Achakzai, sources said.
Government reportedly told the PTI that reopening the 2024 elections would inevitably raise questions about earlier polls, including those held in 2018 and even prior elections, which the government considers neither practical nor politically viable.
However, the government has expressed willingness to engage in dialogue on institutional and constitutional reforms, national political issues, strengthening of Parliament, rule of law, and broader democratic reforms, the sources added. Talks on political prisoners and other national-level concerns could also be considered within constitutional limits. On the sensitive issue of May 9 violence and cases linked to attacks on military installations, sources said the matter was not solely within the government’s authority. Any relief or resolution, they indicated, would involve stakeholders beyond the civilian government, noting that the military’s position on May 9 has already been publicly articulated and remains firm.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan when contacted by The News confirmed that messages had been received by the PTI from the government but declined to comment on their substance.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday again offered talks to the PTI, stressing that negotiations could only take place on “legitimate demands” and warning that “blackmailing under the guise of dialogue will not work.”
TTAP leaders responded cautiously but positively. They announced that the alliance was open to talks on national issues and constitutional restoration, while PTI said that it will not talk with the government.
Political observers say that while both sides appear interested in lowering political temperatures, fundamental differences over the 2024 elections and accountability for May 9 may determine whether dialogue moves beyond such contacts.
While the PTI is not ready to talk, extraordinary circumstances require PTI to take extraordinary steps for initiating the process of dialogue as more than anyone else it is PTI that needs dialogue at the earliest to pave way for normalcy.
It is feared that once again more PTI parliamentarians are to be indicted on or by January 07 by ATC Islamabad in Sangjani Jalsa case which may not take too long to conclude.
It is a publicly known fact that Imran Khan authorised Achakzai and Alama Raja Nasir on November 04 but so far no substantial progress has been made on the dialogue side. Movement whether street or otherwise is not clear either. Any future progress would require both sides to have direct contact with good intentions, a source said.
