Pakistan’s veteran politician Mehmood Khan Achakzai has stunned his foes and friends alike by saying that he is ready to hold talks with the powerful military establishment to end the current political stalemate in the country.
Achakzai, the president of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), made the announcement on Monday on the floor of the National Assembly. “I will hold negotiations. I will talk to every institution. I will also talk to the establishment,” Achakazi said, adding that the talks with the establishment will “not be held to seek their guidance but to give them a passage for honourable retreat”.
Achakzai’s statement came as Defence Minister Khawaja Asif during a heated debate in the parliament spoke about Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party’s (PTI) effort to hold talks with the establishment, and asked if the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) leader was ready to have a dialogue with the army.
Asif hoped the ethnic Pashtun politician would reply negatively due to his lifelong opposition to the role of the army in politics. Achakzai, appointed as leader of the recently created opposition alliance Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP), has been mandated by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party to hold talks with the powerful military. Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s PTI dominates the TTAP, the alliance for the protection of the constitution of Pakistan.
The PTI opposes talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government but is keen upon holding a dialogue with the army to end its political plight. Khan, who on Monday said he was ready to hold talks with the army, had earlier mandated Achakzai to hold talks with anyone. “We will tell the establishment that you are our establishment. You are dear to us. You are our army, our institution. Please be kind to us and [it’s] enough. Sit with us,” Achakzai said.
The supremacy of the Constitution is the only solution and this whole house has consensus on this, the grand-old politician said, adding that even Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif and President Asif Zardari agree on this.
Achakzai further said the politicians the army and everyone was responsible for the present situation facing the country and that the time had come to move forward.
“Come, sit together, including the Chief of Army Staff. We should sit together to find the solution to the prevailing crisis, which has not descended from the sky,” he said.
The issue of talks with the PTI has been in the air for quite some time with the government, time and again, preconditioning the talks with 71-year-old Khan’s apology for the May 9 violence.
The PTI, however, maintained that it would hold talks only with the army.
There is a difference of opinion on the approach to the dialogue as the government wants the PTI to accept the outcome of the February 8 elections and cooperate in tackling economic, political and security challenges facing the country. In contrast, the PTI asserts the government came to power through a bogus electoral process by stealing its mandate and insists that any talks will focus on giving the party its due share in the government.
Khan’s party claims that it won majority seats in the election and holds the right to form the government.The majority of PTI leaders, including Khan, face cases linked with corruption as well as last year’s May 9 violence and the government scares them by holding their military trial.
Convictions under military law would entail long-term consequences. The army on more than one occasion made it clear that those responsible for the May 9 violence would be held accountable while the government kept urging Khan and his party to seek an apology for their alleged role in the violence.
Khan in return demands CCTV footage to identify the real culprits and a judicial probe to fix responsibility at the top.
