ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry has said the views of the PTI’s founder, Imran Khan, appear to support the creation of new provinces, and that the PML-N would join talks on the issue if the PTI and other parties came on board.
Speaking on a private television programme on Saturday, Chaudhry said the views that emerged after lawyers met Imran Khan at Adiala Jail this week “appeared to support new provinces”. He did not say which remarks he was referring to, and the PTI has not publicly set out such a position.
“There is no confusion over establishing new provinces, only a delay,” Chaudhry said, adding that political discussion on the matter had simply not started. New provinces could not be created at the request of one party alone, nor blocked by a single party, he said, and a decision would come through political consensus and majority opinion.
He said no formal talks had yet been held with the Pakistan Peoples Party on the issue. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had invited opposition leaders to talks several times without a response, he said, and the PTI was not yet ready to sit at the table with the government.
Talks with the PTI on Monday
Chaudhry said he was due to meet the PTI’s chief whip on Monday, after which the party’s position would become clearer. Political parties should at least sit together at one table, he said, to create an environment for dialogue.
He said the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms would have 20 members from the National Assembly and 10 senators. The ruling coalition parties have submitted their nominees, while the opposition, which will have five National Assembly members and two senators on the panel, has yet to send its names. The committee will review measures to keep the next elections free of controversy, he said, and could also serve as a forum for other national issues. The committee was first proposed last month.
A debate that keeps widening
The remarks are the latest turn in a debate that began when Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi proposed a referendum on new provinces. On Friday, Chaudhry and Sindh’s Nasir Hussain Shah said a referendum alone could not create new provinces and that Parliament and the provincial assemblies could not be bypassed. President Asif Ali Zardari and the prime minister met in Lahore on Saturday amid the debate.
Imran Khan’s lawyers, Latif Khosa and Salman Safdar, met him and his wife at Adiala on November 11 after an Islamabad High Court order. On Saturday, PTI president Pervaiz Elahi called for an end to the political deadlock after Khosa briefed him on that meeting.
