LAHORE: As the government and organisers of Islamabad sit-ins are yet to frame their response to the recommendations by the opposition ‘Jirga’ to break the political impasse, Jamaat-i-Islami emir Sirajul Haq hints at another strategy for solving the crisis.

Talking to the media here on Wednesday, Mr Haq said none of the three parties to the ‘dispute’ had so far responded to the Jirga’s recommendations.

He could not say what had been the government’s reaction to the PTI/PAT demands.

“Our job was to break the deadlock and resume the talks”, he said, adding, “we will soon call a meeting of the Jirga and meet with the two sides to work out a respectable way out of the crisis in two phases.”

In the first phase, he said, a meeting of major political parties would be held and a solution to the impasse would be worked out through consensus. In the second, he said, the proposed solution would be placed before both sides.

He was optimistic that a solution would be found out amicably.

He said the government, the PTI and PAT had got used to the sit-ins but the masses were worried and praying for an early end to the political crisis.

He said the JI would hold a three-day Ijtema (congregation) at the Minar-i-Pakistan grounds here in November.

He opposed dragging the armed forces and the judiciary into political issues. He said the parties staging sit-ins talked about transparent elections and the supremacy of the Constitution, and “we would like these people to return home happily”.

To the MQM proposal for carving out 20 provinces in the country, Mr Haq remarked that so far, the rulers were unable to run four provinces smoothly. He said the JI Shoora (central consultative body) was deeply concerned at the government’s ‘failure’ to provide timely relief to the flood victims.

He said all the political parties should agree on a roadmap for flood protection and the next government should implement it. To another question, he said even 100 dams could be built in the country but not without national consensus on the issue.

He said the JI Shoora vowed to support the Constitution and the democratic system and won’t be a party to any movement that could threaten the Basic Law.

PPP: The Pakistan People’s Party has said it is not appropriate to drag the judiciary into political disputes.

“Political issues should be resolved politically and the institution of judiciary should not be dragged into it. The present crisis is the product of wrong policies of the PML-N government, therefore it shares the major responsibility for its resolution,” PPP Punjab president Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo said here on Wednesday.

He said had the PML-N government accepted Imran Khan’s demands of scrutinising four constituencies of Lahore earlier the current impasse would not have occurred. Similarly, he said the use of brutal force by Chief Minister Shahabz Sharif in Model Town incident that resulted in the killing of 14 workers of Pakistan Awami Tehreek triggered the wave of anger against the government across the country.

“The condemnation of the incident by all sections of society has pushed the government’s credibility to the lowest ebb and the situation further aggravated when the government functionaries refused the registration of FIR against the culprits,” he said.

Mr Wattoo said the government would have been on high moral ground had Shahbaz Sharif resigned over the Model Town incident.

Reminding the chief minister of his commitment to resign, he said after the judicial commission held him responsible for the tragic incident, he should fulfill it.

He also urged the PTI and PAT leadership to show flexibility in their ‘extreme position’ to resolve the crisis.

Meanwhile, PPP Lahore President Samina Ghurki has asked the government to declare flood-hit areas tax free.

“The government should also waive agriculture loans in the calamity-hit areas as the affected farmers cannot pay off (these amounts) under the present circumstances,” she said.

She said the government should announce such concessions for the flood-affected people without any delay. “Millions of flood-affected people cannot afford to pay taxes and loans, therefore, the government should help mitigate their miseries,” she said.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2014