ISLAMABAD: An opposition jirga seeking to resolve the 34-day standoff between the government and protesters besieging parliament is close to a workable solution and wants a five-day ‘ceasefire’ between the two sides and release of detained activists to help achieve its goal, a key member of the group said yesterday.
Senator Rehman Malik of the PPP, which is backing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in parliament against the protesters’ demand that he resign, said the formula his six-man group was working on would provide a solution to contentious issues within the bounds of the Constitution and reflect the ‘voice of the people’.
Restricting himself to what he said the jirga had authorised him to say, the senator said the formula would have a solution to the protesters’ demand for resignations by the prime minister and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Shahrif and contain a definition of election rigging and propose what should be done if riggings were proved.
He was referring to the allegations by protesting Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) of massive rigging in last year’s general elections at the behest of present-day ruling PML-N.
“It will be in accordance with the Constitution, in accordance with the rule of law and in accordance with the voice of the people,” he said. INTERNEWS
