ISLAMABAD - Malik Riaz Hussain, one of the biggest movers and shakers in Pakistani politics, has thrown his weight behind the proposal of a grand political dialogue to wrest the country out of the current political logjam.
His suggestion came on the heels of a similar plea by the Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial while heading a bench to hear Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) plea against the decision of Election Commission to postpone polls to the Punjab Assembly till October 8 this year. Property tycoon Malik Riaz, who is in Dubai these days due to his health treatment, took to Twitter to say that it was extremely distressing to see Pakistan going through the worst economic and political turmoil.
“I wish Pakistan’s entire political and institutional leadership should huddle around each other to find solutions,” he said. He added that they should follow a way forward like the current ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to put the country on track towards progress and prosperity. “We must remember that our existence belongs to Pakistan. We’re nothing without it,” he also said. The idea of grand political dialogue to bring the country out of the present political and economic crises was being floated by many since days before then prime minister Imran Khan was ousted from power through a parliamentary vote of no-confidence. Since last year, the cash-strapped Pakistan is facing an economic meltdown and the government’s talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the release of a bailout tranche of $ 1.1 billion have hit a stalemate for the past few weeks. The country is facing rising militancy amid an on-going political chaos while the opposition PTI has been pushing the coalition government for an early election. Last week, the CJP Bandial had also talked about lowering the political temperatures in the country and asked for holding a political dialogue by all the political sides. Initially, the opposition PTI had refused to engage in a dialogue around the vote of no-confidence when then Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa had suggested similar grand political talks. The PTI is now open to talks, as this a newfound flexibility. Chairman PTI Imran Khan during his recent interactions with the journalists has shown his willingness to talk to everyone for the sake of the country. However, the ruling coalition now sees this as a sign of weakness and plans to go tough on the former prime minister Khan. Speaking in the National Assembly last week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the coalition government would hold talks with the PTI only if the ex-premier apologizes to the nation for his wrongdoings. He recalled that Khan had repeatedly rejected offers of talks even during COVID-19 pandemic, and on the issue of rising terrorism in the country. Despite all this, all sides will have to come to the negotiation table, earlier or later, to find a solution to the problems of Pakistan that are hitting the poor masses hard.
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