The political way out

There may finally be some hints of a headway in the much-awaited - and zealously brokered - talks between the PDM-led government and the PTI, with the ‘final’ round of talks to be held early next week. Among the rumours is the idea that the government may have suggested polls in September this year, that - while the PTI reportedly did not agree to the September date - the government too has ruled out the counter-offer of July, saying it has to present the budget in June and elections in July would be too early, and that however there is no deadlock between the two sides. These unnamed reports come as Imran Khan made a statement that his side will only talk if the government is ready to dissolve the National Assembly at once and hold elections.

In more interesting news come reports that the former speakers of Punjab Assembly and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly have readied petition(s) for the restoration of both provincial assemblies. Amusing as this may be for those who have been following the PTI’s statements and U-turns, this cannot be much of a surprise to some political observers who had said that the PTI may be given a way out or face-saving through the courts since elections in both provinces seem highly unlikely at the moment given the financial and security constraints that have been conveyed to the Supreme Court. But that brings up yet another legal question: how will it be possible to restore these two assemblies? The answer to that may come in the form of a one-time constitutional amendment. Also: per legal observers, if Article 63-A could be reinterpreted in a way that virtually rewrote the constitution, a legal argument can be made for the restoration of assemblies if all parties agree on holding the general elections across the country on the same day. These are indeed interesting times.

As the final round of talks kicks off, despite the speculations about these negotiations and whether they will be successful or not and if the September rumours are correct or not, there is still scepticism whether anything will come out of these talks or whether some longstanding issues may be resolved. For some, these talks are also an indication that Imran Khan and the PTI have realized that not everything will go their way just because they are popular among the people. Issues need to be resolved through talks with the other side, be they elections or legislation, etc. For the one-time constitutional amendment to hold elections on the same day across Pakistan, the PTI will need to come back to the National Assembly. Some observers say that the PTI will be cautious and would not want to be seen as the side due to which talks fail - if they do. At the moment, it is too soon to predict which way the talks will go but it is a positive development that the two sides have finally realized how important it is to sit together and resolve their issues instead of just resorting to street agitation or taking every parliamentary and political issue to the courts. At the end of the day, parliament is supreme and political parties should decide how things should move forward instead of courts or other institutions deciding it for them. And this is how things should be.