Islamabad:
Earlier this week, a rare gesture of political conciliation in the National Assembly earlier this week, when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif extended a formal invitation to the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) for direct conversations, which increases the hope of relieving the tense political time of the country.
According to the sources, the exchange took place during a national assembly session when Prime Minister Shehbaz personally approached the president of the PTI, lawyer Gohar Ali Khan, starting a brief but significant conversation, including a handshake.
The prime minister was summoned: “Let’s sit and talk: the negotiations are the solution to everything. I have said this before and I am saying it again: we must speak.”
The lawyer Gohar responded succinctly with an optimistic “inshalah” (if God wants).
Read more: PTI loses the judicial battle for the reserved seats
The sources described the atmosphere as informal but positive. According to reports, the dialogue occurred just before the historical decision of the Supreme Court on the reserved seats, which has important political repercussions.
The efforts to ensure an official response of the lawyer Gohar were not successful. However, PTI experts confirmed that Prime Minister’s offer would be transmitted to the founder of PTI Imran Khan, the best decision maker in the party.
This movement is aligned with the recent coverage of the PML-N leader, Rana Sanaullah, who has also advocated dialogue with PTI to calm political tensions.
In statements to the media after a meeting with the members of the opposition earlier this week, Sanoullah highlighted the provision of the prime minister to hold conversations even in the House of the Speaker, if the opposition finds the direct dialogue in uncomfortable.
“The dialogue is essential for democratic progress,” said Saraullah, added: “It is unfortunate that the conversations have stagnated, and the responsibility falls to the founder of PTI, who is obstructing a significant commitment.”
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However, despite these encouraging signs, the reconciliation prospects remain uncertain after a constitutional bank of the Supreme Court on Friday revoked their verdict of July 12, 2024 that PTI had restored as a parliamentary part and allowed it to claim reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies.
The short order, issued on Friday, effectively prevents the PTI to claim almost 80 seats reserved in national and provincial assemblies. The failure consolidates the position of the ruling coalition, which could ensure a two -thirds majority in Parliament, a development that could significantly alter the political landscape of the country.
The PTI strongly condemned the verdict of the Supreme Court, qualifying it as a violation of constitutional and democratic norms.
In a statement issued by its central media department, the party described the sentence as “a continuation of state oppression” and “a robbery of the public mandate.” The statement also claimed that the constitutional right of the party had been “usurped through a judicial bank.”
The PTI also claimed that the reserved seats were distributed “as a war loot” between the parties that lacked public support, calling it a shameless mockery of democracy.
