Senior Vice-President of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Fawad Chaudhry, declared on Sunday that if talks with the government led by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) fail, the party would begin holding protests on May 1.
Chaudhry stated on Twitter that while the PTI wants the discussions with the ruling coalition to be successful, it has developed a plan in the event that they are not.
He urged the followers to prepare for the “major movement” and said that rallies will start in Lahore, Islamabad, and Peshawar under the direction of the party chairman Imran Khan.
The top leader declared, “The PTI will not remain silent if the [government] treats the people like insects and the Constitution like garbage.”
In accordance with the Supreme Court’s directives, the government and the PTI have been negotiating a date for elections. After two rounds of negotiations, the parties will reconvene on May 2 (Tuesday) for the “final” session.
The Supreme Court has also urged the political forces to cooperate and find a resolution to the current instability. The negotiations are essential to ending the standoff over the elections, which has fueled political tensions in the nation and caused an economic crisis.
As of the deadline, the political parties had not decided on an election date, even though a court order required them to do so by April 26.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), has made the decision not to participate in the negotiations since his group thinks that talks with Imran Khan’s PTI will fail.
The ruling coalition ruled out the prospect of a deadlock between the parties during the most recent round of negotiations. Regarding the suggestions made at the discussion, the government and the opposition both opted to confer with their highest levels of leadership and allies.
Both delegations had high hopes for a Tuesday conclusion, but PTI cautioned that if law enforcement continued to detain its employees, the negotiations may “derail” at any time.
The Punjab police invaded Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s home to arrest him on Friday night, which drew harsh condemnation from the PTI. This prompted calls for protests.
Proposals?
According to sources with knowledge of the negotiations, the government proposed conducting elections in September of this year.
The PTI first objected to this, according to the sources, and suggested holding the elections in July.
Government representatives informed the opposition that elections in July would be premature since the budget must be presented in June, according to the sources.
The PTI delegation had then consented to present Khan with the government’s proposal.
Kishwer Zehra, a politician for the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), reportedly advised the meeting’s attendees that it would be best if both parties could come to an understanding rather than risk having an outside force interfere with their plans.
Khan’s condition
In the meanwhile, Khan made clear his requirements, stating that discussions with the administration would only move further if they agreed to dismiss the National Assembly.
“I’m advising these two [Fawad Chaudhry and Shah Mahmood Qureshi] to discuss only if the administration is prepared to dissolve the National Assembly immediately and call elections. There is no need if they (the government) keep talking about calling elections in September or October, according to the PTI leader.
Khan said that with regard to elections, the “ball” was now in the government’s court.