ISLAMABAD: Formal talks between the government and the opposition on the issue of ‘Azadi March’ are set to begin on Friday (today) with both sides sticking to their guns on the demand for Prime Minister Imran Khan’s resignation.

Sources in the opposition told Dawn that the government negotiating team headed by Defence Minister Pervez Khattak would hold talks with the 11-member Rehbar Committee having representation of all major opposition parties at the residence of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) leader Akram Khan Durrani on Friday evening.

Sources said that Mr Khattak, Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and acting President Sadiq Sanjrani on Thursday formally contacted the opposition leaders seeking an appointment.

It was Prime Minister Imran Khan’s announcement on Wednesday that the marchers would be allowed to proceed with their protest that the opposition agreed to hold talks with the government’s negotiating team.

An official handout issued by the PM Office after a meeting of Mr Khan with the seven-member government negotiating team on Wednesday had said the government with its firm belief in upholding democratic ideals had decided to allow the proposed ‘Azadi March’, “if it takes place within the ambit of law and the Constitution as interpreted in the decisions of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and Islamabad High Court”.

Both sides stick to their positions on demand for PM’s resignation

The announcement came in response to a demand of the opposition which had stated that the option of negotiations with the government was subject to the party being permitted to take out a peaceful ‘Azadi March’.

Meanwhile, the negotiating team mostly comprising members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday met representatives of the coalition partners and took them into confidence on their contacts with the opposition parties and about the agenda of their talks with the Rehbar Committee.

Mr Khattak with different members of the negotiating team separately met leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q).

Talking to reporters after his meetings with the allies, Mr Khattak once again made it clear that talks with the opposition would not be held on the issue of the prime minister’s resignation. His statement came in an apparent reference to the reported statement of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman after a meeting of the party’s Shura in Sukkur in which he had asked the government team to bring the prime minister’s resignation with it.

Prime Minister Imran Khan during his meeting with TV anchors on Wednesday had himself stated that he would not step down from the office as he was a “constitutionally-elected” premier.

The PTI delegation first met the MQM leaders at the Parliament House and apprised them about the government’s decision to allow the marchers to enter Islamabad on Oct 31 with some restrictions in the light of various judgements of superior courts.

MQM’s Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, who is also a cabinet member, said his party believed that it was the constitutional right of the opposition parties to hold protest.

Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza of the GDA after her meeting with the PTI delegation praised the government for its decision to allow the opposition to hold the march.

Later, accompanied by Mr Sanjrani, the defence minister met PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and briefed him on the government’s strategy to deal with the opposition’s protest.

Showing a goodwill gesture ahead of talks with the opposition, Mr Sanjrani also talked to PML-N president and opposition leader in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif to enquire about the health of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Sources said that the members of the Rehbar Committee had decided to hold an internal meeting to decide the “agenda” for the talks with the government.

“Yes, we will sit and discuss the strategy for the talks before arrival of the government team. We will also nominate someone to speak on behalf of all the opposition parties in the meeting,” said a member of the Rehbar Committee.

When contacted, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) secretary general Farhatullah Babar, who is also a member of the Rehbar Committee, said they had already prepared a comprehensive charter of demand that would be placed before the government team.

Mr Babar said besides the prime minister’s resignation, their demands included fresh elections in the country without any involvement of the army, reforms in the election laws and ending the ongoing media censorship.

Mr Babar said since the offer for the talks had come from the ruling party, therefore, they were eager to know as to what proposals the government team would be bringing with it. He ruled out the possibility of calling off the long march, saying any such demand by the government would be a “non-starter”.

Mr Babar said the government had itself acknowledged the opposition’s democratic and constitutional right to hold protest and, therefore, he was not expecting that the government would ask them to cancel the march.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2019