Govt ready for dialogue minus Fazl, Maryam: Shibli

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said on Monday the government was ready for dialogue with “serious-minded leadership” of the opposition and the forum would be the parliament, as it represented the people’s will.

Addressing a press conference along with Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain and Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda, he said national dialogue was part of politics but both Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who were not part of the parliament, would be excluded from the process.

Faraz said the government had also given the agenda of the dialogue which would be reforms in electoral system. Criticising the opposition, he said they were seeking resignation of the government on the allegation of electoral rigging but had not come up with any electoral reforms.

He said the opposition leadership believed that if they won, the elections were free and fair but if someone else won, elections were rigged. He said it was unfortunate that those who were facilitators in killing of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and torturing of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto were sitting on stage with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leadership.

“Normally events to mark the death anniversaries are not used for delivering political speeches but they utilised the event for political point scoring,” he said, adding: “It is strange that the enemies of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto were given space to share the stage with PPP leadership.”

To a question about internal differences in the JUI-F, the information minister said those who termed Fazlur Rehman “selected” were insiders and enjoyed good reputation and status in the party.He said Maulana Sherani and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed had stated that Maulana Fazl was “selected”, whereas they were the “real leaders” of the party.