November 15, 2002	Friday	Ramazan 9, 1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, Nov 14: The government had shown no flexibility in its stance on Article 58(2)(b) and President Pervez Musharraf giving up the post of COAS, but there were indications of the possibility of some minor adjustments in the composition of National Security Council.

According to well-placed sources, the government had not assured the PML-Q about making concessions on the president’s powers to dissolve the National Assembly “if running of the government in accordance with the provisions of law was not possible.”

The government was willing to discuss whether the NSC should be an institution created through law or the Constitution. The caretaker government, headed by Malik Meraj Khalid, had also constituted the NSC which was abolished by the Nawaz Sharif government.

The government was also willing to remove the chief of Air Staff and Naval Staff from the NSC.

The government, source said, was sure that the MMA, even without getting its demands accepted, would join the PML-Q as they had been assured deputy prime ministership, chairman Senate, two provincial governments, and ministers in both Punjab and Sindh.

Though there was no provision in the Constitution for the appointment of a deputy prime minister, the source said, the senior minister, on the Indian pattern, would be designated as deputy prime minister.

It is said that there was no discussion on the withdrawal of a three-year extension given to the judiciary by government as a reciprocal act. Initially, the judiciary granted three years to the military ruler; on Oct 9 the service years of all sitting judges of the Supreme Court and high courts were extended.

The source said that the restoration of 58(2)(b) was not only military’s desire but also of judiciary’s which termed it “safety valve” against the imposition of martial law.