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Imran Khans call to shut the entire country on December 16, after shutting down three major cities in a phased manner has got mixed responses - from being termed as grave to
idiculous. But what is certain is that this call is a sign of desperation of the highest degree. A call from a party, which appears to be fast running out of options - a call which some term a saving grace to get back to the dialogue table.
Be that as it may, the ball is indeed in the governments court, as Imran Khan said in his November 30 speech. The protestors want the government to come back to the negotiation table, from where they got disconnected. Recall, when the talks broke down, PTI was hell bent on Prime Ministers resignation. Now they are not. And now is the time to engage the party into talks, and meaningful one at that.
Also recall that both parties claimed, that they had reached consensus on five to five-and-a-half issues. Now with PMs resignation demand out of equation, ideally it should be a smooth round of talks between the two parties. Yes, the terms of references made public, revealed that the differences were greater than what the leaders kept telling. It was not as simple as just the PMs resignation being the bone of contention.
As they say, it is always the governments who are in the giving position, so it is safe to assume the government had gone beyond its comfort level when it reached near consensus on five out of six issues.
So why wouldn you engage an apparently weaker party to talks. Here are three reasons why: a) If you think they have completely run out of steam and that the call to shut major cities and then the entire country would be as futile as the earlier call of civil disobedience; b) If you think that the opposition party has weakened to such a great extent, that it would be unwise to lend them a helping hand, which may help them find a saving grace; and c) If you think, that the protestors have lost steam, as an equally vocal and perhaps more aggressive protestor has left the field vacant.
One hopes that the immediate response of
o question of talks again from two key federal ministers was just a spur of the moment reaction and not the governments official line. It may well be true that PTI may face further humiliation if the public pays no heed to the shutdown call. But what if they do? Plus, cornering an already desperate agitator, may lead them unleashing something not pleasant, hinted as Plan D.
Bear in mind that the PM has already written a letter to the judiciary for forming a commission. The judiciary too has a role to play, staying on the sidelines may have made sense earlier, but now it will not. Agreed, that theoretically, judicial activism is mostly followed by judicial restraint, but now is not the time. Any negotiations that result in continuation of the process, cleaning of the electoral system, an audit of elections and more importantly an end to uncertainty - certainly are worth it.

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