Govt comfortable after agreement with PTI

ISLAMABAD: The government now finds itself in a ‘comfortable’ zone after convincing the PTI to soften up its rigid stand on various clauses of the draft ordinance that is soon going to be promulgated by the president, sources told The News on Monday.
A senior government official confided to The News that the government had almost achieved everything in the preparation of draft of the ordinance, as the PTI had softened its stand on various important issues.
“We will definitely like the constitution of judicial commission, as the draft approved by the negotiating teams of the government and PTI generally reflects the principled stand of the ruling PML-N,” he said.
Sources said during initial talks the PTI continued to press the government to approve the draft of presidential ordinance that was believed to have been prepared by veteran legal experts including Abdul Hafiz Pirzada and Ishaq Khakwani in August last year.
“The government at last succeeded in getting various concessions from the PTI and now both of them have agreed on the draft that is quite contrary to the stance previously held by the Imran-led party,” the sources said.
The text of the draft approved by the government and PTI showed that the commission would not be bound to present its report within 45 days and it was also not binding on it to get assistance from the intelligence agencies in the probe.
The word ‘overall’ has been added to the clauses regarding the scope of the commission and now it has been agreed that the commission would inquire into and determine whether or not (a) the 2013 General Elections were ‘overall’ organized and conducted impartially, honestly, fairly, justly and in accordance with law (b) the 2013 General Elections have been ‘overall’ manipulated or influenced by anyone.
The sources said at the time when the government is all set to promulgate the ordinance the legal brains have also pointed out that this step could push it to a legal battle if anyone challenges it in the court on the basis of argument that there is no room in the Constitution to formulate any such commission.
On the other hand, if the government tries to get it passed as an act then some political groups like the MQM and JUI-F may oppose the move and raise various reservations about it.PTI leader Asad Umar said when two parties agree on any draft it means it fulfills the demands of both and this is the case with the draft ordinance approved by the government and the PTI.
“We had our targets but at the moment I will not mention what we have achieved in the draft ordinance. I will comment on the draft and what we have achieved in it once it is promulgated by the president,” he said.
To a question, he said there was no stand-off between the government and the PTI but at the same time they had no knowledge when the government would invite them to sign the draft and accord regarding the constitution of Judicial Commission.
Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said consensus had been developed on the draft of ordinance and it would be promulgated in the coming days to the satisfaction of both the parties.
“We had a principled stance on some issues and the PTI later realized it that was why a consensus was developed on the draft of the ordinance. It could be done long before but despite that I think it would help reduce political tension in the country,” he said.