May 1, 2003	Thursday	Safar 28, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, April 30: President Pervez Musharraf sent the National Assembly into a peace recess on Wednesday as the ruling and opposition parties set Monday to begin detailed talks to resolve their bitter row over his sweeping powers.

After Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain read out the presidential order proroguing the lower house indefinitely, an opposition spokesman said rival negotiating teams would hold talks from May 5 to May 15.

During only an eight-minute sitting on Wednesday, which began 70 minutes late, the speaker said an all-party house advisory committee he heads had unanimously decided not to discontinue the session to help “maintain a congenial atmosphere for the talks”.

The session had hardly conducted any real business since its start on April 15 because of noisy protests against the LFO.

However, the presidential order, using the usual official jargon, said the session had been prorogued “on the completion of its business”.

As on previous two working days after the two sides agreed to a political truce last week, there were no usual opposition chants of “No LFO, no” and “Go Musharraf, go” or desk-thumping that had paralyzed both the assembly and the 100-seat Senate since the government distributed new copies of the LFO-amended Constitution on March 5.

Liaqat Baloch, a senior member of the MMA, told reporters the advisory committee had also agreed that the government and opposition negotiators meet in the parliament building and the assembly secretariat facilitate their talks, while the next assembly session could be convened on May 18-20.

He said although previous government-opposition talks held before Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali took office in November had failed, the opposition wanted a partial understanding reached then to be kept in view in new talks.

HURDLES: Constitutional experts have predicted difficult bargaining over the LFO’s most controversial parts such as Gen Musharraf’s powers to remain president and army chief for five more years, form an overseeing military-civilian National Security Council, dissolve the National Assembly, sack prime ministers and appoint armed forces chiefs and provincial governors.

Another hurdle could be the shape of a constitutional package to be brought before parliament if one was agreed upon.

While the ruling coalition was yet to name its negotiating team, the opposition named a mix of legal and political brains on its five-man team: assembly member Aitzaz Ahsan and Senator Latif Khosa of the PPP, Liaqat Baloch and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed of the MMA, and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan of the PML(N).

There is nobody in the team from smaller opposition parties. But Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party president Mahmud Khan Achakzai told Dawn that the smaller parties had no objection.