November 12, 2002	Tuesday	Ramazan 6, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 11: The Grand National Alliance (GNA), a grouping of the PML-Q, six-party National Alliance, and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, resumed intensive talks on Monday night with the hope of coming to an agreement on the LFO that acts as a block to smooth transfer of power.

The meeting started at around 9.40pm and continued until the filing of this report at 12.10am.

Before the meeting, the top leaders of both sides, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Qazi Hussain Ahmed held detailed taks with President Musharraf and others in government’s team.

Chaudhry Shujaat, the sources said, has been terribly busy trying to find out government’s position on the LFO and other issues.

Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, deputy secretary-general of the MMA, who is part of the negotiation team as well as joint committee, told Dawn that the GNA-MMA meeting would focus mainly on the presidential powers under 58(2)B.

The GNA representatives at the meeting were Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Chaudhry Amir Hussain, Mohammad Ali Durrani and Mehmud Hashmi; and the MMA team comprised, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, Liaqat Baloch, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri, and Syed Amir Hussain Gillani.

An interesting aspect of these parleys according to an observers is that Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the MMA candidate for prime minister, is part of every discussion, and Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has been kept out by the PML-Q; Sheikh Rashid has been inducted instead.

Informed sources said that President Musharraf, in the high- profile meetings, had indicated his willingness to help parties reach a consensus with regards to the LFO.

He was reportedly firm on 58(2)B remaining part of the LFO.

The MMA team of the joint committee, the sources claimed, had proposed in its recommendations that the president should not have the power to dissolve the assemblies; he should only be able to dismiss the prime minister and his cabinet.

The committee also recommended that the proposed National Security Council should be an advisory body and its recommendations should be subject to review by parliament and the federal cabinet. It has also proposed that the NSC should be lead by the prime minister and not president.

A source in the MMA confided to this reporter saying that the alliance was not that serious in pushing for PM’s post as it was in the transfer of power from military to civilian government.