A cautious Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has linked any headway with early elections to the submission of a request by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led coalition government to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) at the earliest as testimony of surety that the PPP Core Committee decision was not a ‘political stunt’ but a pragmatic step to serve democracy amid soaring apprehension about establishment manoeuvring to play out its own game plan.
Hashing out a strategy to deal with the development, the PML-N leadership has started working on formulation of preconditions to develop a roadmap for Senate and general elections likely to be held ahead of schedule.
“Under fresh ‘terms of working’, the PML-N has prioritised the prerequisite of official request to the ECP by the government, warning that any dilly-dallying would help throw a spanner in the works,” a senior PML-N leader told Pakistan Today on Friday.
Claiming that there were back-channel talks between PPP senior leader Aitzaz Ahsan and PML-N Senator Ishaq Dar to find a workable formula for snap polls, he said communication between the two parties had been in process for a couple of months, climaxing last month. Finally, he said, they had agreed on the viewpoint ‘united we stand, divided we fall’, fearing a pre-emptive move by a third force to nail the system or impose its own handpicked party.
He said both ace leaders weighed up various options including in-house change, the minus Zardari formula, besides en masse resignations and chain of protest rallies to hold early elections. Eventually, they reached the decision that given the critical circumstances, the best solution lay in early elections to cool down the political temperature and silence the guns of all political forces.
Sources revealed that the PML-N had also begun inviting suggestions from various political and religious parties for an interim setup and independent election commission, including those which were not part of parliament. Sources said that Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman had initiated and conveyed his recommendations for structuring an “acceptable interim disposition”. The PML-N leadership has also decided to form a committee to consider the recommendations at length and it is likely that PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif would call a high-powered meeting in a couple of days. PML-N Senator Pervaiz Rahsid, a close ally of the Sharifs, told Pakistan Today that the PPP and PML-N were parliamentary parties and always remained in contact. “Despite conflicts and difference of opinions on multiple issues, both often deliberate on various matters relating to functioning of the democratic system, politics and the country.
Mincing his words, he said Dar and Ahsan might have held informal talks on early elections and as a result, the PPP decided to go for it. However, the senator said the PML-N had not made formal negotiations in this regard so far. He said further that the PML-N did not believe in covert “deals” or “agreements”. “If the stage arrives, the PML-N would like to make it in broad daylight before the media to ensure transparency and honesty,” he claimed. Rashid said if the PPP-led coalition government processed an official request to the Election Commission of Pakistan, the PML-N would take positive action to actualise the plan. He said the PPP had lost its trust by giving people the slip on judges’ reinstatement, ending load shedding, implementing parliamentary resolutions regarding foreign policy and drone attacks and above all, the implementation of the NRO verdict. Rashid alleged that the PPP had the mastery to change its position, action and statements according to the situation. “To me, it appears to be a mere political statement, which stands untrue until the PPP takes a practical step by asking the ECP for early elections,” he added. In order to fulfil various prerequisite of early elections, he said the government had to discuss it with National Assembly Opposition Leader Nisar Ali Khan to chart the entire programme.
