May 17, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 14, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, May 16: The government-opposition negotiating committee has completed deliberations on all the seven contentious items of the Legal Framework Order and decided that the groups will submit their stands in writing before the preparation of a constitutional package.

On Friday the opposition demanded that the president’s legal adviser, Sharifuddin Pirzada, be summoned to brief the committee on the LFO.

The government’s representatives in the committee on Thursday briefed Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali about the progress in the talks. Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain led the delegation.

Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s Deputy Parliamentary Leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed told this reporter that there were a number of issues in the LFO which needed explanation as the government side was unaware about them.

National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain, who presided over the 8th meeting of the 11-member constitutional committee at Parliament House, said his secretariat would compile the recommendations given by the members as a constitutional package to be presented to the prime minister.

On Tuesday, the committee had expressed its determination to complete its work on Friday.

However, some new elements, including points raised by the representatives of the People’s Party Parliamentarians and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) led it to the conclusion that the parties should submit their point of view on various issues in writing.

MMA leader Liaqat Baloch said the sides had agreed on a number of points but were poles apart on many others, including president’s retaining of the chief of the army staff’s office.

The joint statement issued after the meeting said the parliamentary negotiating committee completed deliberations on the “constitutional position of the LFO, supremacy of parliament, appointment of judges and retirement age, status of articles 58(2-b) and 112, which deal with the president and governor’s discretionary powers of dissolution of national and provincial assemblies, president’s power of appointment of services chiefs, the additional list of presidential orders in sixth schedule of the Constitution and Article 270-AA. The political representatives of various opposition parties also advanced their separate proposals on issues other than the seven contentious issues of the LFO.

“The members will present their stand on various proposals and contentious issues on May 19, in light of which recommendations will be prepared and the counter proposals and notes of dissent by members will be made part of the final proposals,” it said.