Two of the largest parties of Pakistan — the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) — have troubleshooters who spare no time and effort to fire salvos at each other. The configuration is simple: talk at each other instead of talking to each other. This drives people to think that both parties are fighting it out to the hilt, hence prepared to go suicidal, bringing themselves down and the system too. Off and on there are statements and actions that speak louder than words that matters have reached the point of no return. Having gone to that extent, still one can see an underlying and neatly worked-out understanding to go to the brink and pull back. In fact, both parties have devised a strategy to unleash hawks to raise all the noise and dust but at the same time both possess the doves who apply the brakes to prevent matters from spinning out of hand. The PPP has made use of this strategy by letting Zulfiqar Mirza take on Muttahida Qaumi Movement and quite lately, Faisal Raza Abidi to launch harsh criticism on the judiciary. To make it more effective, both have been punished apparently by party high-ups, but the common feeling is that everything in this regard was scripted. On the other hand, the PML-N has firebrand Chaudhry Nisar in their camp as well as Rana Sanaullah, who leave no stone unturned to come down hard on their rivals both at the Centre and in the province. To pour water over fuel, then both parties come in with palliatives and the task is handled by the likes of Ahsan Iqbal and Aitzaz Ahsan who step in with their sobriety in an otherwise charged environment. The virtue of this neck-and-neck confrontation is that issues are projected and debated upfront and at length. But the downside is that people get an impression that the political forces in the country are once again going back to the 1990s when such type of no-holds-barred confrontation derailed the democratic process. Nowadays, hectic — and to give credit to both sides — meaningful negotiations are going on with an aim to take the country to the next general elections, to be organised and presided over by a caretaker setup. Another major irritant consuming the energy of the negotiators is the partitioning of Punjab with a view to carve out one or two provinces out of South Punjab. But here the more crucial and immediate issue is the holding of the next elections and that too in an amicable and free and fair manner. After the 20th constitutional amendment, it is mandatory to have a caretaker government installed after both government and opposition are able to reach a consensus after meaningful consultation. Now it is incumbent on government to reach out to the main opposition party and all other political parties to have a smooth run-up to elections and its holding in a tension-free environment. The opposition too is obliged to extend a hand of cooperation to the government outreach to have a smooth transition after the completion of the tenure of the sitting government. The next couple of weeks are going to be decisive in this respect as the apex court is again going to zero in on the Prime Minister (PM) to give some tangible response to move forward on the Swiss cases. If the court demonstrates no tolerance and corners PM Raja, then the PML-N will be encouraged to play its cards with a stronger hand, and that will be a dangerous prospect for the overall political milieu of the country. It is a time when all political forces should join heads and hands to lend an irreversible stability to the political arrangements where all have high stakes. A conducive environment needs to be fostered and sustained where the rules of the game are well defined and no occasional patchwork is needed to cope with some emergency arising out of tension developed among political parties. Consensus has been visibly demonstrated by both major parties whose testimony is the four constitutional amendments meant to streamline the parliamentary system. The third force mantra was heard several times in the media but practical wisdom and pragmatic calculations have kept the things on track. Off and on there is a sly mention of a technocrats’ government, extended setup and other sorts of governing contrivances smacking of some extra-parliamentary and extra-constitutional move. The next six months are another crucial milestone in the country’s existence. This timeline will demonstrate what and how much the political forces have learned in the last five years when they were given space to operate, although this space was a bit squeezed as a result of the executive-judiciary tussle and some minutely orchestrated influence by other nonrepresentative yet powerful elements in the establishment. For the time being, both parties along with their allies and opponents ought to give up the politics of confrontation, work out the feasibility of the next elections so as to go to the polls with a positive mindset. An intense struggle to win maximum seats is going to ensue once the caretaker setup is installed and the elections date is finalised, so before that it is in the interest of all stakeholders to arrive at a consensus to have peaceful and clean elections. It can be hoped that the way both the PPP and the PML-N have navigated through the thick and thin in these five years, marked by confrontation on some issues and cooperation on others, they will be able to chalk out a level playing course of action for themselves and others, thus putting the democratic system on a sounder footing. The writer is a lecturer in the department of politics and international relations at International Islamic University and can be reached at arshad.abbasi@iiu.edu.pk