Test of far-sightedness, negotiation skills of political leaders.

Byline: Ashraf Mumtaz

LAHORE -- The maiden meeting of a government delegation with the JUI-F leaders, scheduled for Sunday evening in Islamabad to discuss long march or sit-in in the federal capital, was cancelled at the eleventh hour as the opposition's driving force - Maulana Fazlur Rehman - has decided to refer the matter to the 'Rehbar Committee', a body of leaders from different parties, to take it onboard. This committee will meet on Tuesday.

The JUI-F chief has, apparently, done this to gain time to address the complaints of the PPP which feels annoyed because of the Maulana's party's support to the PTI candidate in a recent by-election on a provincial seat in Larkana. The PPP, despite being in power for the past 11 years, lost the seat to the GDA candidate. This provided enough political munition to the rivals to raise fingers at the performance of the PPP government and its failure to win hearts and minds of voters in the power bases of the Bhuttos. The defeat of the PPP candidate has caused tremendous embarrassment to Bilawal, who is leading the party in the absence of his incarcerated father and is the future of the party. Also, the JUI-F's support to the GDA contestant has left little justification for the PPP to support the Maulana's anti-government initiative.

The Maulana cannot afford to keep the PPP out of the opposition. A joint decision by Rehbar Committee will bring all opposition parties on the same platform for the same agenda.

While the talks are yet to begin, the PTI has already rejected the opposition's demand for Prime Minister Imran Khan's resignation before talks. The ruling party leaders argue that if the PM has to resign before the talks then what will the opposition discuss with the government team.

Political observers say that outcome of negotiations will be a test of the far-sightedness and negotiations skills of the leaders of the two sides. These are the parties, whether in government or opposition, that are supposed to work out a strategy to get the besieged Kashmiris their right to self-determination in accordance with the UN resolutions. If they failed to find a solution to the prevailing domestic crisis through talks, nobody will be ready to believe that they will be able to defeat enemy India through diplomacy on the Kashmir issue.

The government...