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ISLAMABAD, Jan 20 (APP):Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah on Tuesday urged all political parties to join hands for a “Charter of Stability of Pakistan (Misaq-e-Istehkam-e-Pakistan),” stating that the country’s political, electoral, and institutional challenges could only be resolved through dialogue and consensus within Parliament.
Speaking in the Senate, he said the prime minister had repeatedly extended an unconditional offer to the opposition to engage in dialogue, stressing that political disputes should be resolved politically rather than through confrontation. Pakistan’s history showed that prolonged political deadlock only weakened democratic institutions, he said.
Rana Sanaullah said concerns raised regarding the February 8 elections were not unprecedented, recalling that similar allegations had followed earlier polls, including the 2018 general elections. He said if political forces remained stuck in past grievances, progress would remain impossible.
He said both the government and opposition must acknowledge that Pakistan’s electoral system lacked complete credibility and required collective reform. “If we agree that free and fair elections remain a challenge, then the solution lies in sitting together to improve election laws, procedures and the role of institutions like the Election Commission,” he added.
Referring to post-2018 developments, he said parliamentary remedies had existed then as well, including the formation of a parliamentary commission, but political will had remained absent. He said political victimisation, arrests and imprisonment of leaders were not new phenomena, recalling that similar narratives and hardships had existed in earlier periods as well.
Rana Sanaullah said courts had also issued controversial decisions in the past, including the disqualification of elected prime ministers, adding that selective memory would not help heal political wounds. “If every side insists that only its grievances be addressed first, no dialogue can ever begin,” he said.
He recalled that during the 1990s, bitter political rivalry between major parties had eventually led to the Charter of Democracy, which helped stabilise the system. He said abandoning that spirit in favour of protests, sit-ins and confrontational politics had repeatedly destabilised the country.
The SAPM said political rhetoric calling for dragging elected leaders out of office had damaged democratic norms, noting that the same political leadership later sought unity during national crises such as terrorism and the APS tragedy.
He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had demonstrated seriousness by personally reaching out to opposition benches, offering dialogue without conditions, including calls made on the floor of the House and gestures made after the passage of the budget.
Rana Sanaullah said opposition leaders in both the National Assembly and the Senate now had an opportunity to steer politics towards stability, adding that dialogue on judicial independence, political cases, electoral reforms and democratic norms must take place at the table of Parliament.