ISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) member and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Monday called on the country’s politicians to resolve the prevalent political crisis through dialogue, amid heightened tensions between the PML-N and former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
The development takes place after ex-PM Khan formed a three-member committee last week to hold talks with the leading right-wing political party, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), who offered to mediate between the government and Khan to resolve Pakistan’s political deadlock. JI chief Siraj-ul-Haq also held a separate meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to bring political tensions down in the country.
Tensions between the government and Khan’s party have been on the rise ever since the former premier was ousted in a parliamentary vote last year. Khan refuses to recognize the government and has been pressurizing it to hold snap elections. Sharif and his coalition government have categorically rejected his demand and said polls for all assemblies would be held as per schedule in October.
The government and judiciary have also grown increasing hostile against one another after a landmark judgment by the Supreme Court earlier this month called for elections in Pakistan’s Punjab province to be held on May 14. The verdict did not sit well with PM Sharif and the ruling party, who called on the chief justice to resign and accused another two judges of the apex court of being biased against it.
A three-member delegation of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which is also part of the coalition government, called on Sanaullah and other PML-N leaders to discuss Pakistan’s political crisis. Speaking to reporters after their meeting, the interior minister said the PML-N “fully endorsed” the PPP’s vision to hold talks with opponents to resolve the political deadlock in the country.
“In democracy, especially parliamentary democracy, dialogue is the only way that can take us out of any crisis or difficult situation,” the minister said.
Taking an indirect dig at ex-PM Khan, Sanaullah said politics of rigidity, hate and ego is responsible for the crisis Pakistan is in today. The interior minister said the crisis has also heightened tensions between Pakistan’s judiciary and parliament, adding that it can cause severe damage to the state.
“Hence under these circumstances, it is the responsibility of all political parties to take the country out of crisis through dialogue,” Sanaullah said, adding that the PML-N leadership had always tried to not only tolerate difference of opinion but also respect it.
PPP leader and former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, who was leading the PPP delegation comprising Syed Naveed Qamar and Qamar Zaman Kaira, said the “clash of institutions” is not in Pakistan’s interest.
“We don’t want to finish dialogue because politicians have only one weapon, and that is dialogue,” Gillani said, adding that the PPP would first meet its allies to build a consensus for talks and then reach out to others.
