May 1, 2003	Thursday	Safar 28, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, April 30: The opposition leaders said on Wednesday that the entire Legal Framework Order must be passed by a two-thirds majority in parliament for it to become part of the Constitution rather than some agreed-upon clauses.

They told reporters at the National Assembly that the government-opposition dialogue on the LFO, due to begin on May 5 in a committee room of the parliament house, would be of no use if the government did not agree to the passage of the entire LFO.

They rejected a reported government announcement that Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) president Chaudhry Shujaat Husain would head the joint committee of the two sides on the LFO.

A leader of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP), Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said the opposition would not compromise on any portion of the document that had been incorporated in the Constitution. “The dialogue on the Legal Framework Order will start if the government agreed to get the entire LFO passed from both lower and upper houses of parliament,” he said.

He said some members of the committee from the government side, including Hamid Nasir Chattha and Ejazul Haq, were also in agreement with the opposition.

The PPP leader urged the government to allow an increase in the number committee members both from the government and opposition sides to ensure maximum participation.

Responding to a question about the nomination of the PML-Q chief as head of the joint committee on the Legal Framework Order in the absence of Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali, he said this would not be acceptable to the opposition.

Another PPP leader, Khurshid Shah, said some seven most controversial clauses of the Legal Framework Order concerning the powers of the president, formation of a National Security Council (NSC) and the president’s military uniform, would be discussed.

Talking to Dawn, Dr Sher Afghan, the parliamentary leader of the breakaway PPP-Patriots group, said it was government’s responsibility to present the Legal Framework Order before the National Assembly through a bill.

Talking about the outcome of government-opposition dialogue, he said it would be fruitful.

He said in 1985 when a similar situation emerged during Ziaul Haq’s regime the controversial amendments in the Constitution were further amended by parliament under Articles 238 and 239 of the Constitution.

A Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leader, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, told reporters that there should be some outcome of the meeting by May 15.