THE drawing room conservations this Eid are going to be quite something. An unusually difficult Ramazan is now behind us, but the country’s political and economic challenges remain very much in play.

Shortly before the country slipped into extended holiday mode, there had been a strong push to have the main political parties sit down and negotiate over the elections matter.

Sirajul Haq of the Jamaat-i-Islami, who was spearheading an initiative from the political side, met both PTI chief Imran Khan and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last weekend in an attempt to break ground for a more meaningful engagement between the government and opposition camps.

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The PPP, too, had held discussions between the coalition partners regarding the possibility of talking a way out of the present legal and political mess.

The Supreme Court’s refusal to back down from its May 14 deadline for the Punjab Assembly elections has given further impetus to the need for negotiations, leaving some stakeholders grumbling about being made to talk ‘at gunpoint’.

These goings-on in Islamabad impact everyone’s lives in one way or the other. The citizenry will, therefore, have much to gossip over as they socialise during Eid festivities.

It is hoped that the holiday will also allow a much-needed cooling of political temperatures and offer a chance for all stakeholders to reflect on where they stand.

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The incumbent government has erred gravely by casting aside the constitutional edict on holding elections within 90 days for the dissolved assemblies of KP and Punjab.

There is no sugar-coating the fact that it has subverted the law of the land to protect the political interests of its member parties. Recent polls indicate that the citizenry believes elections should be held as soon as possible so that the current state of uncertainty can end.

However, that possibility appears remote unless the PTI is willing to show some flexibility. The party needs to realise that it gave up its leverage voluntarily by quitting the National Assembly and by dissolving the Punjab and KP legislatures.

It must now decide whether it ought to continue on a path of increasing confrontation against more than a dozen political parties backed by the might of the state or gain some of its leverage back by making some compromises.

It will be interesting to see what the resumption of ‘normal business’ brings post-Eid.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2023