• PML-N leader warns Imran will be ‘ultimate loser’ if negotiations fail
• PPP optimistic about outcome of dialogue, hopes better sense will prevail
• Fawad says strategy in place in case of talks failure

LAHORE: After PTI chief Imran Khan demanded the dissolution of the National Assembly by May 14 to pave the way for a successful outcome of talks, the federal coalition termed his ultimatum ‘imp­racticable’ and asked him to be more flexible for the success of this dialogue bet­ween the government and the opposition.

Ahead of the third round of talks between the PML-N-led federal coalition and the PTI scheduled for Tuesday (tomorrow), the PML-N warned that Mr Khan’s party will be the “ultimate loser” if the negotiations failed — the general elections may be “delayed for a year under a constitutional provision”.

Reacting to Mr Khan’s demand to dissolve the National Assembly by May 14 to go into polls on the same day, PML-N Secretary General and Federal Minister for Development Ahsan Iqbal said: “We want to tell Imran Khan that he cannot hold talks at gunpoint. The first condition of talks is, there are no pre-conditions. Mr Khan is so desperate that he wants his way or the highway.”

In a conversation with Dawn on Sunday, Mr Iqbal said the federal coalition parties sat with the PTI with an ‘open mind’; however, if Imran Khan continued to stick to his demand for the dissolution of assemblies (National, Sindh and Balochistan) by May 14, then this was not acceptable to the federal coalition.

“The people of Sindh and Balochistan cannot be punished for the folly of Imran Khan who dissolved Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies to force elections…under the patronage of his ‘handlers’ in the institutions,” the minister said, adding the PTI would have to agree on a code of conduct for polls besides the same-day elections.

‘Ultimate loser’

“And let me tell…if talks fail the ultimate loser will be the PTI as there is a provision for delaying elections for a year under the Constitution. Imran Khan has warned of creating a law and order situation in the country (if polls are not held this July) and in such a scenario the elections will be delayed for another year,” Mr Iqbal warned.

When asked if the elections would be held in Punjab in May in light of the Supreme Court’s order in case of no breakthrough in parleys, the minister said: “We clearly see politics behind this apex court’s verdict.”

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also does not see a ‘positive outcome’ of talks. “What will be the result of the negotiations with the PTI as they are setting conditions,” he said.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which pushed the PML-N to hold parleys with the PTI on elections, is still optimistic. “I hope that dissolution of the assemblies by May 14 is a proposal and not a condition set by Mr Khan. This suggestion is not viable. Who will present the budget if the National Assembly is dissolved in May? It cannot be left to the caretaker setup to negotiate with the IMF and present the budget (for the upcoming financial year),” PPP senior leader and PM’s special assistant Qamar Zaman Kaira told Dawn.

Mr Kaira said despite such a suggestion the PPP believed better sense would prevail and that these talks would not end up in failure.

Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq, who recently called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Imran Khan to push them for a consensus on polls, said: “We are hopeful for a breakthrough in the dialogue and that both the federal coalition and the PTI will not head for a deadlock.”

On the other hand, the PTI has also shown optimism that its parleys with the government will succeed.

“PTI wants the success of talks with the government, but it has formulated a strategy in case of failure. It is not possible for the PTI to sit silently if the Constitution is considered as a piece of trash and the public as insects,” PTI senior leader Fawad Chaudhry said in a tweet.

Mr Chaudhry also called on the people to prepare for a ‘movement’. “The movement is starting tomorrow (Monday) with rallies in Lahore, Islamabad, and Peshawar, culminating in a historic long march,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2023