PML-N, PTI hold talks on polls date, claims PPP

In a major development, the ruling parties reached out to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) after the Supreme Court gave the country’s main political parties a week to develop a consensus on the date for elections, confirmed Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader Qamar Zaman Kaira on Friday.

Speaking on the Geo News programme, Naya Pakistan, Kaira revealed, “[Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s] Ayaz Sadiq spoke to [PTI’s] Asad Qaiser yesterday at noon” to end the ongoing political crisis in the country.

According to reports, Minister for Economic Affairs Sardar Ayaz Sadiq approached former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser and conveyed the message that "they are ready for talks".

The three-member bench of the top court — headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar — sought a progress report on April 27 about the upcoming meeting of political leaders scheduled for April 26.

The Supreme Court's directives came after the PPP and PML-N had assured the SC on April 20 that they would sit with the PTI and try to find a solution on the election date.

Speaking during the TV show, Kaira said that the court has different ways, while the political parties have to find a way out of the possibilities.

Expressing his displeasure over the apex court’s order, he said: “This is the matter of political forces, it should be done by them.”

Giving details about the interaction between the two leaders, Kaira said that Qaiser confirmed to attend the meeting of the political leaders scheduled to be held on April 26 — soon after the Eid holidays.

Responding to a question, the PPP leader said that Shah Mahmood Qureshi should ask Qaiser about the contact.

Qureshi, a day earlier, claimed that the ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leadership — an alliance of 13 political parties — did not make any contact with them.

“No doubt, there is bitterness, but it was created by Khan,” the PPP leader said, adding that they are trying to remove it.

He added that everyone is convinced that elections should be held on the same day across the country.

The PPP leader was of the view that the establishment and the court should not interfere in the negotiations between the political forces.

'Disagreement’ among PDM

The ruling allies hit a snag over holding talks with the PTI on April 18, sources told Geo News, after Jamaat-e-Islami's (JI) bid to bring both sides to the negotiation table.

The PDM coalition partners met in Islamabad after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif convened a meeting on the country's political situation and the JI's negotiation efforts.

During the meeting, a disagreement took place among the parties in the coalition government over holding talks with the opposition party as some believed that PTI Chairman Imran Khan could not be trusted, while others insisted that political forces should not shut channels for negotiations.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari stressed holding dialogue with the opposition, with Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Balochistan National Party, Balochistan Awami Party, Chaudhry Salik, and Mohsin Dawar backing him, sources said.

Bilawal said closing the door for talks is against his party's principles and "undemocratic".

"It is the need of the hour that the path of dialogue be adopted and the country taken out of the crisis," he added.

But representatives of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and the Jamhoori Wattan Party (JWP) rejected Bilawal's opinion and said that it isn't in the coalition's interests to hold talks with the deposed prime minister — who was ousted from the office via a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly in April last year.

Speedy engagements after Eid

Earlier today, JI Emir Siraj Ul Haq — who is trying to bring both sides to the table to steer the country out of the crisis — claimed that political contact will expedite after the Eid ul Fitr.

He added that both PM Shehbaz and Imran Khan had realised that the situation is bad, adding that his party has one-point agenda — elections should be held across the country.

“We want everyone to agree on the election date,” Haq further said.

The JI leader added that the nation would have to face the consequences of the ongoing political and constitutional crises.