Democratic talks

Once again – and this is once again in a pretty long line of these instances – the ruling party and its allies have offered dialogue to the PTI, with the PPP saying it would play its role if PTI founder Imran Khan is ready to talk and the federal government also offering dialogue to the PTI. Representing the government, Federal Minister for Petroleum Dr Musadik Malik addressed a press conference last week and asked the opposition party to “talk” instead of “confusing” and “destroying everything”. Expectedly, PTI chairman Barrister Gohar has rejected this offer of talks. This is hardly a surprise to anyone observing politics in the country; time and again the PML-N and the PPP have offered talks to the PTI and time and again the opposition party has rebuffed such an offer.

When the PML-N was in opposition and the PTI was in power, Shehbaz Sharif had offered negotiations as leader of the opposition. When the first PDM government came to power after a successful vote of no-confidence against Imran Khan back in April 2022, the coalition had offered talks again but Imran had dismissed it by saying he could talk to nationalists or even terrorist organizations but not with “thieves and robbers”. After the February 8 polls this year, the second PDM government also offered talks on several occasions but the PTI has not initiated any talks yet. If anything, there has been a flip-flop from PTI’s side on the matter of talks. The former ruling party has on most occasions stated that it would only talk to the establishment as that is where the real power lies – which to be fair is a correct estimation of reality but is also rather telling of the PTI’s politics even now: forget the political, remember the powerful. Then there were some statements by its leadership that it was willing to talk to the government but some conditions had to be met. So far, nothing has moved forward. As for the establishment, Imran Khan through his family and leaders has now requested the army chief be ‘neutral’ – an odd statement from a man and a party that made ‘only animals are neutral’ a popular slogan!

So what’s changed? It could be that the PTI has figured that the current government’s unpopularity works in its favour without the party having to go all revolutionary. If the current dispensation cannot take the necessary tough economic decisions, the PTI may be vying to be brought back to power by dangling its popularity as a reason. It is needless to say all the talk about radical change and reform has never quite been about civilian supremacy but always about coming back to power and being back in favour – something all our overzealous parties have in common. But the big question still looms: will the other side accept the signalling? According to political analysts, the only way the power structures will be open to anything is if the PTI apologizes unequivocally for the May 9 attack and admits its culpability. The best way forward for all is a compromise on all sides – whether it is happy or grudging does not really matter for now. The political temperature needs to be brought down because a breakdown of the political and democratic system will affect all parties. There is a small window of negotiations but as time passes, its chances also diminish. Let the talks begin.