THERE is resistance to the new prime minister, and the issue of the letter to the Swiss authorities still looms. But if the ruling coalition and the opposition are willing to display some cooperation and maturity, there is still a workable way forward. Despite their seemingly being at loggerheads, there are glimmers of hope in what the prime minister and opposition politicians have said in recent days. The initial opposition response to Raja Pervez Ashraf was not particularly encouraging — understandably so, given the prime minister’s record on the energy front. And his invitation to the opposition for talks on governance issues during his inaugural speech in the National Assembly was snubbed. But the PML-N spokesperson has now said the opposition would be willing to talk — as long as the focus of talks is on appointing a chief election commissioner, creating an interim set-up and holding early elections. And in that lies a potential middle ground that could benefit both the ruling coalition and the democratic system itself.

The wisest course for the PPP now is to announce a time frame for negotiations, asking for a specific period of time to govern before the start of talks on elections and related issues. This concrete proposal could stem some opposition impatience by displaying a willingness to bring elections forward. That, in turn, could buy time for the government to implement whatever improved governance is possible and try to improve its badly damaged reputation on that front before the next polls. The PPP has little to lose by doing this — it has nearly completed a full term, and by bringing elections forward it would lose at most a handful of months in power. In return for a reasonable time frame for the start of negotiations on polls, the opposition should tone down its rhetoric and let the ruling coalition try to implement some reforms.

If an arrangement like this can be worked out, that should be all the more reason for the Supreme Court to consider carefully the effects of pursuing the letter to the Swiss with the current prime minister as well. The upside of doing so is entirely unclear, given the position the ruling party has taken on the president’s immunity. The downside, though, is obvious: destabilisation of the system once again, a lack of clear answers on how to proceed and, in the worst-case scenario, further encouragement to extra-constitutional forces that so far haven’t taken matters into their own hands. If they are able to reach an agreement and schedule for the way forward, Pakistan’s politicians might yet be able to prevent this chain of events from taking place.