ISLAMABAD - Sirajul Haq, chief of Jamaat-e-Islami and head of Political Jirga, said that Jirga is striving to resolve the standoff between the government and protesting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tehreek through negotiations.
In connection with his endeavours to break the impasse in dialogue Sirajul Haq met PAT chief Allama Tahirul Qadri in his container on Monday and discussed with him the current situation and his views on resumption of dialogue with the government. Sources aware of the deliberations of the meeting informed The Nation that Dr Qadri was critical of the non-seriousness on part of the government as on one hand the government was holding talks with them while on the other it was busy arresting PAT activists and leaders and implicating them in serious cases.
Sources further said that Dr Qadri wanted release of his activists and withdrawal of all the cases against them to make the negotiations serious and meaningful, adding that all of PAT demands were within the precincts of constitution and law of the land.
The sources said that Siraj agreed to the point of Dr Qadri and assured him that he would take up these issues with government negotiation team and hoped that all the genuine demands of both PTI and PAT would be accepted before resumption of the dialogue.
Talking to media persons after the meeting Siraj said that Political Jirga was optimistic about resolving the imbroglio through negotiations and its desire is to make a win-win situation for both the government and protesting parties.
To a question Sirajul Haq was all praise to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) for creating a history by staging the longest ever sit-ins in the federal capital.
To another question he said that all the parties believed in constitution and rule of law and that is the common ground where all the three can land and resolve the standoff through negotiations. “We want an honourable way-out for all the parties,” he added.
Responding to yet another question Haq feared that the prolonging of the crisis could plunge the country into Iraq and Syria like turmoil and that was the reason they were striving to resolve the issue at the earliest.
He said that it was their earnest desire to bring the parties on negotiation table and in his view the government should take lead in the process as it has a lot to offer to the protesting parties. To a question he said that crackdown and use of force against the protesting parties would only aggravate the situation and would hamper their efforts for peaceful resolution of the issue. He further said that the people wanted that Political Jirga would come up with some verdict on the crisis but having the role of mediation their effort would be to resolve the issue with carving out a win-win position for all. The Jirga wanted to see the system coming out strong from this crisis, as any harm to the system would plunge the country into much severe crisis, he opined.
Sirajul Haq said that in his view the change could only come through peaceful political struggle and violence and anarchy could bread disorder and chaos.