A day after PTI leader Shehryar Afridi made it clear that his party will only hold talks with the army chief and the ISI chief instead of the government, there are media reports that PTI founding chairman Imran Khan has given a green signal to talks with the establishment as well as political parties within the framework of the constitution. On Friday, Afridi had said during a talk show that there was no reason to talk to a “rejected lot” that had come to power “without a mandate”. He later tweeted that negotiations are the only way forward for political parties but since the real power lies with the army chief, the PTI will not talk to a ‘puppet government’. He also revealed that Imran Khan has always wanted to engage with the establishment but there has been no response. Earlier, PML-N leader Senator Irfan Siddiqui had said that if the PTI can sit with Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, then why can it not talk to his party.
If Imran Khan is serious about moving forward, he should tell his party to only talk to political parties, otherwise there is little chance of resolving this crisis. The PTI really should end this confusion and make it clear what it really wants – which side does it truly stand on here? Political observers have long been saying that political parties should sit together and put their past grievances behind them so that a way forward can be drawn instead of more political chaos and polarization. PML-N leaders have been saying that Pakistan’s economy, electoral system and other key issues must be discussed and resolved through political consensus. It is a positive sign that the government wants hostilities between the PTI and other parties to end so that they can formulate some rules of the game and ensure that the people of Pakistan are not disenfranchised in the election process. Many elections in Pakistan have been surrounded by controversies but even those that were not – like the 2013 elections that were relatively free and fair – were also made controversial by political opponents. This trend needs to end. The last two elections have led to a lot of questions about the will of the people and how voters feel that their votes have not made any difference as the end result is decided by someone other than them. This practice needs to be stopped and it can only be done if all political parties sit on one table, make sure that there are rules in place ensuring that the next elections are above any such controversy and actually lead to the results that the voters have given their vote for.
But the PML-N or the PPP or other parties cannot move forward if there is no PTI on the table. If the PTI only wants to talk to unelected forces, then it means that it actually does not believe in civilian supremacy and is only waiting for its turn to come. The way Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur recently threatened that his party will storm Islamabad is only making matters worse. Instead of such provocative threats and remarks that talks cannot be held with political parties, the PTI should focus on resolving the real crises that Pakistan faces: the economy, voters’ disenfranchisement, free and fair elections, and strengthening democracy. The party's focus should be on talking to political parties to resolve this mess and not look at the establishment for any favours.