The fate of 28 legislators continues to hang in the balance as talks between the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on the 20th Constitutional Amendment Bill remained inconclusive on Wednesday, with both sides claiming that the deadlock had been broken but insiders telling Pakistan Today that the make-or-break round of talks would be held on Thursday (today). “Both sides made some progress on the appointment of a caretaker setup but PPP leaders Khurshid Shah, Naveed Qamar and Raza Rabbani sought some time from the PML-N to take the nod of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani,” said a source in the PML-N, adding that the PPP leaders had agreed to amend the existing constitutional mechanism of the appointment of a caretaker setup on the PML-N’s demand but needed the consent of the party’s top command.
The source said further that both sides also agreed to apply the same procedure for the appointment of caretaker setups in the provinces as the one adopted by the Centre. “The PML-N told the PPP leaders that without amending the constitutional procedure of appointing a caretaker setup, they would never support the 20th Constitutional Amendment,” the source said, adding that the PML-N had not budged from its stance of substituting the words “in consultation with the leader of the opposition” with “in consensus with the leader of the opposition”
in the existing constitutional procedure of the prime minister installing the caretaker setup.
Religious Affairs Minister Khursheed Shah told reporters after the meeting that they had made “enough and meaningful progress” in the dialogue process. He said, however, that final shape would be given to the process within a day or two. Shah also said it was decided in the meeting that the two sides would consult their leaderships before final consensus on all the issues. He said Prime Minister Gilani still needed to be briefed about the proceedings.
National Assembly Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told reporters that there was no more deadlock in the talks but added that it was premature to predict a final breakthrough. He said his party suggested that like the Centre, the procedure of the formation of caretaker governments should also be extended to the provinces.
“Tomorrow’s meeting would be a make-or-break session for the talks, as we will not hold more dialogue in case consensus is not reached,” said Nisar.
He also demanded that action be taken against the chief election commissioner for holding by-elections without the completion of the Election Commission of Pakistan, which had resulted in the suspension of 28 members of parliament and provincial assemblies. He said the government and the chief election commissioner were both responsible for the suspension of the 28 members.
He said further that Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl chief Fazlur Rehman had given him a complete mandate to negotiate with the government on the 20th Amendment.
Most likely a huge waste of the country’s valuable resources (tax payers’ money) on topi drama vested interests! This nation desperately needs the Apex Court to ensure genuinely free & fair polls, in order to rid us of the kleptocracies and the oligarchies eating away at this country’s infrastructure/resources! By the way, shame on the pro status quo forces for carrying out the smear campaign against Imran/PTI – negating their own, self-proclaimed, democratic “principles” and all that jazz! Shame and hypocrisy galore!
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