June 12, 2003	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 11, 1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, June 11: National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain is expected to give his ruling on the Legal Framework Order during the ongoing budget session.

Informed sources told Dawn on Wednesday that the ruling, which is likely to recognize the LFO as part of the Constitution, would bring the dispute to an end and thus pave the way for peaceful proceedings in the house.

The confidants of President General Pervez Musharraf, including secretary of the yet-to-be-formed National Security Council Tariq Aziz, had met senior PML-Q leaders last week and asked them to try to get the speaker’s ruling over the LFO as well as the NA’s approval of the budget before the president’s visit to the United States on June 24.

Sources said Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali had rejected the idea that he should facilitate a meeting between the opposition and the president to resolve the issue of his uniform. “They (opposition leaders) know how to get to the GHQ or the presidency. Therefore, I would not become a conduit between them,” the prime minister was quoted as having said at a private meeting in the parliament building on Wednesday.

Mr Jamali said he had tried his best and was still making efforts to come to terms with the opposition. However, sources said, he was of the view that those of the opposition leaders desiring to see the president should approach the latter directly.

The prime minister said he was not worried about himself as he was ready for anything; to face a no-confidence motion or to quit in the larger national interest.

Yet, sources said, Mr Jamali had asked the opposition through some mutual friends to accept the LFO which could be later modified through amendments.

Although the opposition has refused to hold talks with the government, the prime minister directed PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Wednesday to approach the main opposition leaders to narrow differences over the LFO on the basis of give and take. This time some elders, including some owners-cum-editors of newspapers, will be requested to assist both sides and make sure that no party backs out on issues that are already decided.