ISLAMABAD: On a hot and humid Monday political temperature in the federal capital also remained high as top leaderships of the PTI and the ruling PML-N held separate meetings on the same issue – Aug 14 long march Imran Khan has planned to oust the government.

At the PTI meeting, its lawmakers authorised the party chairman to decide on their resignations in a bid to enforce early elections.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif discussed with senior leaders of the party various options to handle the PTI march before and after Aug 14.

Know more: PML-N to let PTI go ahead with march

While of late the PTI has increasingly started talking about mid-term elections, the PML-N seems sitting comfortably on a safe majority in the National Assembly, facing no constitutional or legal threat as a result of Mr Khan’s call for the long march.

Both parties hold separate meetings about long march plan

Mr Khan presided over the PTI’s parliamentary committee meeting at the Parliament House, while Prime Minister Office was venue of the ruling party’s meeting.

PML-N MEETING: Prime Minister Sharif brainstormed various options to respond to the long march. Although no official statement was issued, sources privy to the meeting said the government was keeping all its options open.

A source in the PML-N told Dawn that the government would continue its efforts to persuade the PTI leadership to hold talks on electoral reforms. Since the prime minister has himself announced more than once that the government is open to listen to the opposition on the issue of electoral reforms, the doors for talks will remain open.

One of the options discussed at the meeting was to ask the PTI to come up with a constitutional amendment for whatever changes it wanted in the electoral process and the government would support it.

However, the meeting decided that as far as PTI’s demands for recounting of votes, audit of entire election results and punishment for the returning officers allegedly responsible for mismanaging the 2013 general elections were concerned, Mr Khan and his party should seek relief from the Election Commission or the judiciary.

The PML-N leaders were also of the opinion that the government should aggressively campaign against the PTI for disrupting democracy and take other political forces on board for the purpose.

On the administrative front, the prime minister asked Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to take necessary measures for the long march concerning its security and arrangements for its final destination in Islamabad.

“The meeting decided that no hurdles will be created in the way of the march. However, law-enforcers will remain on high alert to deal with troublemakers,” the PML-N source said.

The Punjab government was asked to take necessary legal action against Dr Tahirul Qadri for his civil disobedience call.

The meeting was attended by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan, Punjab Governor Muhammad Sarwar, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Ishaq Dar, Pervaiz Rashid, Chaudhry Nisar, Ahsan Iqbal, Abdul Qadir Baloch, Irfan Siddiqui, Hamza Shahbaz, Rana Sanaullah, Rana Mashhood and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

PTI MEETING: PTI’s Information Secretary Dr Shireen Mazari told Dawn that all members of the National Assembly “will hand over their resignations to the party chairman to use them when he sees fit”.

When asked if the decision also applied to the party’s lawmakers in the provincial assemblies, notably in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the PTI was ruling, she said: “Yes, the decision is same for all legislators of the party.”

In a press statement, the party’s central media cell also said the PTI lawmakers would submit their resignations to the party chairman, allowing him to use them at an appropriate time.

It rejected media reports about backchannel contacts between Mr Khan and Chaudhry Nisar.

Talking to Dawn, a PTI member of the National Assembly who attended the meeting said much of the deliberations was how to increase pressure on the government to meet PTI’s demands because the issue of resignations had been decided at a core committee meeting held in the last week of June.

He said the PTI lawmakers had been categorically told that the Aug 14 march wasn’t just another rally. It will determine future of politics not only for the PTI but also for the country and, therefore, they are required to put in all their resources for its success.

When asked if the lawmakers had been informed about the party’s strategy to press the government for early elections, he said the leadership had decided in principle that the party would forcefully highlight the fact that the present government was formed as a result of rigged elections.

Reflecting the party’s mode in a TV talk show, Shafqat Mehmood, a senior PTI leader and MNA from Lahore, said that since it had been abundantly proven that the 2013 elections were rigged, new elections were the only options left.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2014