ISLAMABAD: A barrage of conflicting statements by prominent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) figures, including cabinet members, on a sensitive issue relating to the protest of the proscribed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) has marred the situation and not helped calm it down.
Senior leaders, who matter in the present dispensation, are showering the political scene with a volley of statements or tweets every now and then instead of allowing the designated spokesmen to speak about them.
When such remarks are intended to bash the opposition parties, they are understandable as politicians have traditionally done so during every era. But when they are made on potentially threatening matters like the TLP agitation, they can have serious consequences. Instead of doing any good, they serve to provoke the other side, which at this sensitive time needs to be handled sanely and prudently.
Former federal minister Senator Faisal Vawda came out with the novel revelation that Prime Minister Imran Khan was not aware of an agreement that had been reached by the government leaders with the TLP a few months back. His comment was apparently aimed at the defence of the premier and absolving him of any involvement in the important accord. Hours later, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry refuted his colleague saying that Imran Khan was aware of this agreement, which had been signed with his approval. “I don’t know why Vawda gave this statement when he is not a member of the federal cabinet.”
Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid also contradicted the senator and said he had put his signature on the accord with the TLP after seeking Imran Khan’s sanction. Many people sarcastically linked Vawda’s claim with the prime minister’s previous assertions that he did not know about certain developments that had impinged hard on the people at large. At one point, he had said that he came to know about it through television.
The information minister also said separately that no talks would be held with the TLP and its protesters should clear the highway and hand over to the law enforcement agencies the killers of four policemen who lost their lives in the ongoing fracas.
At exactly the same time that Fawad Chaudhry made this demand, the government was holding talks with the TLP delegation led by its incarcerated chief Saad Rizvi, who had been especially brought to Islamabad for the purpose from a Lahore jail.
Five days back, Sheikh Rashid was confused about the ban imposed on the TLP that his own ministry had clamped and he himself had announced at a presser. He had also said that the government was sending the reference to the Supreme Court under Article 17.
The reference is sent where the federal government declares that any political party has been formed or is operating in a manner prejudicial to the sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan within 15 days of such a declaration.
Fawad Chaudhry has now blamed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for not stopping the TLP from taking part in successive elections even after it was proscribed. When there has been no apex court decision as no reference was forwarded to it by the federal government, the ECP can’t proceed to deregister the TLP. Additionally, the government never raised the present objection regarding the ECP when the TLP had contested several elections including the Azad Kashmir polls.
Nearly a week ago, the interior minister declared, after parleys with the TLP including Saad Rizvi in Lahore, that an agreement had been reached under which all the detainees of the proscribed outfit would be released and that the TLP would withdraw its protesters from the blocked highways. He had also said that a final announcement to the effect would be made on the prime minister’s return from Saudi Arabia.
This is not the first time that there is an unending bombardment of statements from the government leaders. Their track record makes it clear that whether it is the Afghan issue, talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMP), foreign relations, internal issues, civil-military relations etc., a deliberate attempt is always made on the ground as if the maximum public statements issued by the government stalwarts would solve the problems or scare away the other side. In reality, such an approach has been exasperating and complicating matters to official disadvantage and chagrin. But nevertheless, the chorus goes on unabated.
