November 11, 2002	Monday	Ramazan 5, 1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, Nov 10: President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday held separate meetings with political leaders, including two aspirants for the top slot.

According to unconfirmed reports, the president met Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Amin Fahim.

Secretary information Syed Anwar Mehmood and Col Hasan, PRO to the president, when contacted refused to confirm or deny these meetings.

According to some reports, the meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and Mir Zafarullah Jamali took place at the GHQ. However, the official sources did not confirm the reports.

A PML-Q leader Azeem Chaudhry confirmed to Dawn that Mr Jamali had visited the GHQ to hold talks with ‘concerned’ officials but did not confirm his meeting with the president. Another PML-Q leader who requested anonymity said: “I think Jamali has met the president.

Despite various attempts Mir Zafarullah Jamali could not be contacted to confirm his meeting with the president till the filing of this report.

Azeem Chaudhry said: “Mr Jamali held meetings with high-ranking civil and military officials but I don’t think he met the president.”

The sources said the PML-Q leader remained at the GHQ for quite some time and was briefed on a number of issues by the officials concerned.

Azeem Chaudhry said Jamali also met the French ambassador, who called on him at the Balochistan House in the evening. Both discussed the prevailing political situation in the country, he said.

According to other reports, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the acting president of MMA, and Makhdoom Amin Fahim, president People’s Party Parliamentarians, also met the president. However, sources in both the parties neither confirmed nor denied the reports.

Liaquat Baloch, deputy chief of Jamaat-i-Islami, when asked to confirm these report, said: “Such meetings are a routine and there is nothing new if a meeting took place but I cannot confirm that Qazi sahib had a meeting with the president.”

Similarly, Farhatullah Babar, spokesman for PPP chairperson, said: “Amin Fahim remained with us for three hours today and there was no mention of his meeting the president.”

Meanwhile, leader of PML-Q parliamentary party Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain met MMA’s candidate for prime minister Maulana Fazlur Rahman and discussed matters pertaining to formation of the new government.

When asked about the talks, secretary-general of JUI-F Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said that both the leaders tried to convince each other to withdraw their respective prime ministerial candidate, but both stuck to their stand.

He said the Maulana reiterated the MMA’s reservations on LFO and other related issues and asked Chaudhry Shujaat to try to get some tangible concessions from the Musharraf government to break the deadlock.

Chaudhry Shujaat, he said, assured Maulana Fazl that he would do his best to get concessions on the controversial articles of LFO and return with good news in tomorrow’s meeting.