Olive branch?

First it was President Asif Ali Zardari who talked about the need for political polarization and meaningful dialogue in his first address to the joint session of parliament, then it was senior PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah who made a reconciliation offer to PTI founding chairman Imran Khan in a talk show and now industrialist Arif Habib too has asked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to reach out to Imran Khan in Adiala Jail. This is something the media has also raised – asking all political parties to sit together for the sake of the country. There are two views on this when it comes to the PML-N. One side believes that dialogue should be initiated with the PTI so that the political temperature in the country goes down but there is also another side which sees the PTI as a group that only believes in chaos and disruptive politics. One thing though all are agreed on – politicians, businessmen, journalists and political commentators – and that is that it is indeed Imran Khan himself who is the main hurdle to a political dialogue.

Pakistan desperately needs a healing touch and an end to the current political acrimony. The argument that the PTI is a party of chaos may well be true, but it is also an extremely popular party. It cannot just be written off. There has to be some form of engagement with the party. Of course, given the PTI’s track record it is entirely possible that it will say no once again. However, this does not mean that efforts should not be made. Given the recent statements by PTI leaders about a possible ‘deal’ with the establishment, there have been speculations whether Imran has been offered any deal but he has rejected these claims. Going by Pakistan’s ground realities, Imran Khan has two options: to initiate a political dialogue with other parties or strike a deal with the establishment. At the moment, both seem to be out of the question.

For a political dialogue, Imran himself has to accept the offer of negotiations that President Zardari indirectly pointed to and which Rana Sana and PPP leader Nadeem Chan have directly put on the table. Some are of the opinion that the PTI missed a good opportunity for political space by rejecting the PPP’s offer after the February 8 polls to form the federal government. The fact is that Imran Khan has always been unwilling to talk to his political opponents, especially the two mainstream parties – the PPP and the PML-N. He did not want to talk to them when he was the prime minister, he did not want to talk to them after he was ousted through a vote of no-confidence, and he does not want to talk to them now. Any which way one looks at it, this seems to scream that he does not want to take the democratic way out of this quagmire. Does this mean that he may still only wish to ‘make deals’ with what he sees as the real power in the country? And will that work? On this there are varying opinions. Some are of the view that while the establishment always makes deals with politicians eventually – even those out of favour – Imran Khan’s case may be different due to the May 9 events. Others say that there are some scenarios where some room could be made for the PTI: one is that the Shehbaz-led government fails on the economic front; two, if PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif has a falling out with the powers-that-be; and three, if the current power structure retires. However, can we once again emphasize – for all parties – just how important it is to talk to political opponents instead of relying on such interventionary support because if all political parties come together for a dialogue, some space can be made to gradually roll back a system that essentially trivializes democracy.