Government-Qadri talks After the first meeting between the government negotiating team that persuaded Maulana Tahirul Qadri to call off his sit-in in Islamabad and the redoubtable Allama, there are hardly any surprises in the outcome. Both sides have stuck to their guns on issues of import in their view, while converging on points agreed in the Islamabad Declaration. For example, as far as the objection that all the agreed points in the Islamabad declaration are unconstitutional or illegal, Federal Minister for Information Qamar Zaman Kaira tried to assuage any worries on this score by asserting that legislation would be enacted to provide cover to the agreed points. It remains to be seen if this task can be completed before the Assemblies go home. Now first the agreed points that emerged after this meeting. The government has committed to announcing the elections date within 7-10 days and will meet Qadri again on a date to be announced by January 31. Qadri asserts that the Assemblies will be dissolved before March 16, the cut-off date that marks the end of the tenure of the National Assembly (though the provincial Assemblies have later dates, extending in all by another month). Qadri further said the elections would be held within 90 days after the dissolution, with 30 days sanctioned for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to scrutinize the eligibility of candidates aspiring to stand in the elections on the touchstone of Articles 62 and 63 of the constitution relating to the character and honesty of all candidates. Consultations on the caretaker prime minister and chief ministers will first be held between the government and Qadri, and only afterwards between the government and the opposition. It may be pointed out that the legitimacy of the first consultations is purely ‘political’ in nature, while the latter are now part of the constitution. Should there be any disagreement in the first consultations, or should the two consultations produce different results, in the fitness of things, things constitutional should prevail over things purely ‘political’. Logically, while Qadri's views on this issue can and should be solicited, as should those of all players whether they are in parliament or not, the final decision according to the constitution rests on the consultations between the government and the opposition. The government and Qadri have disagreed over the latter’s demand to dissolve the ECP on the grounds that the provincial members (excluding the Chief Election Commissioner) were not properly appointed according to the procedure laid down, central to which is the hearings the parliamentary committees in each provincial Assembly are supposed to hold of all the names put forward by the provincial governments. Mr Qadri objects that these members were appointed without being heard and therefore their appointment is illegal. Since the government does not agree, Qadri has threatened to take the issue to the Supreme Court, which these days has acquired a forbidding profile. The two sides also disagreed on Qadri's demand that all funds under the control of the prime minister and chief ministers be frozen to prevent their misuse for electoral advantage by the incumbents in the run up to the elections. The government argues this would bring all development activity in the country to a grinding halt and is in any case violative of the right of incumbent governments to continue exercising their inherent powers and functions until they depart. Qadri, in a populist gesture, demanded these frozen funds be used to give relief to the people. Nice thought, but impractical. The damp squib the Islamabad long march ended as has now been ‘transferred’ to, and been reflected in, the meeting between the two sides in Lahore. What a colossal waste of the time and energies of a beleaguered people and country the entire exercise has turned out to be. Dr Qadri’s megalomaniacal ambitions may have been partially assuaged by his increased political profile emerging out of obscurity stretching over many years, but it has done little else for the polity or the country. Mercifully, at the very least the adroit handling of Qadri has prevented any suggestion of postponing the elections. This may be the only silver lining in a rather dark cloud.