June 3, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 2, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, June 2: A high-level meeting presided over by Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali decided on Monday that the government would not come under any blackmailing of the opposition on any issue, including that of the Legal Framework Order (LFO), Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told Dawn.

After attending the meeting, the interior minister said the government wanted complete supremacy of the parliament.

The meeting was also attended by secretary interior, governors and chief ministers of the four provinces.

The meeting was of the view that some people were bent upon destroying the peaceful democratic process in the country. However, the government would not allow them to do so. “These people cannot achieve their designs by pressuring the government,” the minister said.

Rejecting the speculation that the National Assembly could be suspended before the federal budget for some months because of the noisy opposition protests inside the house against the LFO, he said the federal budget for fiscal 2003-2004 would be announced in the assembly by Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz.

The interior minister said people working against the democratic ideas wanted to see suspension of the National Assembly.

He further said that the meeting also discussed the law and order situation in the country, and emphasised the need for providing basic security cover to the citizens.

The meeting, he said, decided to take several measures to maintain law and order, specially in those areas from where some incidents of disturbances were being reported.