November 14, 2002	Thursday	Ramazan 8, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 13: The Grand National Alliance and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal held another round of talks on Wednesday on the contentious articles of the Legal Framework Order, including Article 58(2)B and the NSC, and decided to give time to Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to discuss the matter with the government.

Both sides will meet again on Thursday after holding their own summit meetings to deliberate the points agreed upon so far, as well as the signals received from the government side.

Though both Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Qazi Hussain Ahmed expressed optimism and said an outcome of their discussions was expected in the next couple of days, it appeared that differences over Article 58(2)B and the NSC still existed.

Talking to newsmen after the two-hour talks, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain claimed that the government was showing maximum flexibility on the LFO and results of his parleys would come out soon.

He said a headway had been made in today’s deliberations and he would resume his job of mediating between the government and the political parties from today in order to take it to a logical conclusion.

Speaking on the occasion, Qazi Hussain Ahmed said that the talks with the GNA leadership were being held in the light of the six-point declaration adopted by the four major parties under which Chaudhry Shujaat accepted the job of a mediator between the government and political parties.

When asked whether both sides also discussed formation of a coalition government, Qazi Hussain said: “Our focus is on issues relating to the LFO on which we are also taking the ARD into confidence.”

HE SAID: “We have not reached a conclusion as yet but things are progressing towards a satisfactory conclusion and we have made some headway.”

He said that Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain would again meet the government functionaries after today’s meeting to discuss the issues on which the MMA had expressed its reservations.

Responding to a question, Qazi Hussain said: “So far we have not discussed the issue of transfer of power or formation of a coalition government.”

To another question, he said: “My meeting with the president was satisfactory but we did not reach any conclusion either, except for that I requested him (Gen Musharraf) to start a new era by showing maximum flexibility towards restoration of Constitution and democracy.”

He did not agree with a suggestion that talks had deadlocked between the two alliances and said: “We are moving ahead.”

Meanwhile, there were reports that differences had appeared in the ranks of the MMA over the question of alliance’s prime ministerial candidate as result of which Maulana Fazlur Rahman skipped the joint meeting and left for his hometown D.I.Khan.

However, JUI-F secretary-general Hafiz Hussain Ahmed termed these reports baseless. He said Maulana Fazlur Rahman had to leave for D.I.Khan to enquire about the health of some of his relatives.

The joint meeting of the two alliances was attended by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Maulana Samiul Haq, Liaquat Baloch and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed from the MMA side, while Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Chaudhry Amir Hussain, Mohammad Ali Durrani and Arbab Ghulam Rahim represented the GNA.