Govt ready to concede ground on LFO: Talks next week: Shujaat
By Ihtasham ul Haque
ISLAMABAD, March 8: The government and the opposition have decided to hold talks next week to remove their differences on the Legal Framework Order, the president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, said on Saturday.
“We have invited the opposition to hold talks on the LFO in order to break the deadlock in the National Assembly,” he said.
He said he had talked to Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) leader Liaquat Baloch on Saturday morning and invited the opposition parties to hold a dialogue and resolve differences peacefully. “Our invitation has been accepted and hopefully we will start our dialogue from Monday.”
Responding to a question, Chaudhry Shujaat said the current session of the National Assembly was likely to be prorogued by Monday evening. “But we could meet outside the house either in Islamabad or Lahore.”
The PML-Q president said the government was ready to concede some ground to the opposition on the LFO.
“But for this purpose I told Mr Baloch that we first need to sit together and he agreed with me,” he added.
In reply to a question, he said that the National Security Council, the president’s powers under Article 58(2)(B), and President General Pervez Musharraf’s decision to continue also as chief of the army staff were some of the main issues now to be discussed with the opposition.
He said there was agreement between the PML-Q and opposition parties on a number of Legal Framework Order provisions before the formation of the present government.
“And we now will start from where we left,” he said, hoping that differences would be resolved through a spirit of accommodation and reconciliation.
Chaudhry Shujaat said the ruling party did not believe in securing political benefits through coercion and pressure. “All I can say is that we are ready for talks and we will certainly be considerate in seeking to forge a better understanding with the opposition to run the National Assembly through give and take.”
The PML-Q chief also said the opposition should take into account the sentiments of public and editorials of newspapers that called for resolving political and constitutional issues peacefully rather than resorting to protest and acrimony in the house.
But political sources said it was unlikely the two sides would come to an accommodation to end the opposition protest before the Senate meets.
JAMALI: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Saturday invited the opposition for a dialogue on the Legal Framework Order to resolve the matter amicably, APP adds from Peshawar.
Talking to newsmen at the Peshawar airport soon after his arrival, he said: “We were open to dialogue on constitutional amendments with the opposition before the completion of parliament and are ready even today”.
He said opposition members knew the process of bringing an amendment to the constitution, as they all were graduates. Amendments could only be made with a two-third maj-ority in parliament, he pointed out.
Asked to comment on the Islamization of laws in the NWFP by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government, the prime minister said: “We all are Muslims”
