ISLAMABAD: The opposition PPP supported on Friday the resolution condemning the sit-ins of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek and calling for upholding supremacy of parliament only after it got its draft approved from the top leadership in Karachi.

According to sources privy to a meeting of the leaders of all parliamentary parties with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, which discussed the resolution before it was tabled in a joint session of parliament, the PPP refused to give a free pass to the government, ensuring that the resolution wasn’t more than a run-of-the-mill kind.

As a result, presentation of the resolution and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s speech at the joint session of the parliament got delayed until after Friday prayers, they said. Otherwise, the government had planned to get the whole business done before the prayers.

“The meeting began at around 10:30am and was ready with the resolution within an hour. But because of the PPP’s insistence to get it approved by the party’s co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi, the sitting continued even in the afternoon,” a participant told Dawn.

After the draft of the resolution was finalised, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, Syed Khursheed Shah, said his party’s legislators want it to be approved by Mr Zardari.

According to sources, Mr Zardari, who is known for rising late in the morning, was asleep when the draft of the resolution was faxed to him. Therefore he took time in vetting its content.

Because of this, the prime minister addressed the joint session of parliament at around 3pm. The sitting was prorogued after the speech.

Government allies Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and some PML-N hawks called for use of force against the protesters but the PPP did not want to be a party to any such move, a PPP office- bearer told Dawn. “That was the reason Mr Zardari was consulted. And he did not want his party to be used in sanctioning use of force. After all the PPP is the main opposition party.”

A senior government functionary said it wanted a strongly-worded resolution, including a call for forcible eviction of PAT and PTI activists from D-Chowk provided it received an across-the-board support from the house.

But in the end, the government had to settle for a mild resolution, only condemning the sit-ins and calling for upholding the sanctity of state institutions.

PM ON JIRGA PROPOSALS: During the meeting the prime minister expressed his anguish over the floating of proposals by the political jirga to end the standoff between the government and the two protesting parties.

PPP Senator Rehman Malik, who is part of the six-member jirga comprising opposition leaders, on Thursday told reporters about its suggestions, including a pledge to be made by the prime minister that he would resign if the proposed judicial commission declared that the last general elections were rigged.

“I was surprised when I read these proposals because the jirga’s role was restricted to facilitating talks between the two sides, and it was not supposed to offer suggestions for the resolution of the crisis,” the prime minister was quoted as saying.

Even if the jirga wanted to float its proposals through the media, he said, at least it should have discussed them with the government.

But Mr Malik has said that the proposals had been forwarded to the three stakeholders -- the government, the PTI and the PAT.

Headed by Jamaat Islami chief Sirajul Haq, the jirga had repeatedly said that it had worked out a plan which, if implemented, could provide an opportunity to the two sides to come out as a winner. The ongoing standoff could snowball into a bigger crisis if it was not dealt with wisely, it warned.

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, who is also spokesperson for the prime minister, has said the jirga had not been given the task to float proposals. “It has done so on its own.”

The way the government has reacted to the jirga’s proposals shows its unwillingness to allow a third party to play a role in finding out a negotiated deal with the protesting parties.

Leaders of the PTI have repeatedly accused the government of not being sincere in negotiations to resolve the crisis.

Published in Dawn, September 20th , 2014