On Friday, the ruling coalition informed the Supreme Court (SC) that great progress had been made in the conversation with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on conducting elections on a single date.
“Significant progress has been made since the beginning of the dialogue process.” “The coalition partners believe that political issues are best resolved through dialogue and are willing to resume it in the larger national interest,” said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who is a member of the dialogue committee.
According to the statement, “the committee further agreed that caretaker governments should be in place at both the federal and provincial levels for holding general elections justly, fairly, and in accordance with the law, as well as to provide a level playing field for the leadership of all political parties to actively participate in the electoral process.”
“There is, however, no agreement on the date of dissolution of the national and provincial assemblies of Sindh and Balochistan, and both committees had agreed on 02-05-2023 to resume negotiations after receiving clearance from their respective leadership,” Dar remarked.
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According to the statement, the committees convened five formal sessions on April 27, 28, and May 2, in addition to informal discussions between April 29 and May 1.
Talks with IMF
The committee also informed the PTI committee that negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and friendly countries had reached a critical juncture.
“To avoid further economic deterioration, it is critical that agreements with the IMF and friendly countries be concluded before the Annual Budget 2023-24,” the statement continued.
According to the statement, “It was absolutely critical to complete the IMF ninth review, pass the FY 2023-24 Annual Budget, and approve the Trade Policy 2023-24 before dissolving the National Assembly.”
“Pakistan has been demoted to a frontier market from the best performing emerging stock market in South Asia and the fifth best in the world,” the Supreme Court was informed.
“The PTI committee acknowledged the gravity of Pakistan’s economic challenges and agreed to negotiate to hold general elections to the national and all provincial assemblies on the same date,” according to the statement.
It further stated that the coalition partners were willing to contemplate dissolving the assemblies before the end of their constitutionally mandated periods in order to establish a political settlement.
