June 26, 2003	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 25,1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD June 25: The Pakistan Muslim League-Q and its allied parties on Wednesday decided to tackle the combined opposition’s no-trust motion against the National Assembly speaker by a show of strength while abstaining from voting in this regard.

PML-Q’s media committee chairman Kabir Ali Wasti said the ruling coalition had decided to have breakfast on Saturday morning in the Parliament House cafeteria while attending a dinner on Friday night in their full strength. The press would be allowed to cover the event, he added.

A meeting of the parliamentary leaders and federal ministers, chaired by PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, was held at Punjab House on Wednesday evening. It decided to allow the opposition to march on the Parliament on Saturday if they so 1desired but disallow their march on the Supreme Court.

The meeting rejected a proposal to impose Section 144 on Saturday but urged their supporters to desist from coming to the Constitution Avenue.

The alliance’s meeting also supported an early resumption of dialogue with the opposition.

It also stressed the need for convening of the government- opposition leaders’ meeting to resolve the Legal Framework Order (LFO) issue.

The meeting was attended among others by federal ministers Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Abdul Sattar Lalika, Maj. Tahir Iqbal, Syed Sifwanullah, Ghaus Bakhsh Maher, Raza Hiraj, Liaqat Ali Jatoi, Naseer Khan and Balochistan chief minister Jam Mohammad Yusuf, Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain, Dr.G.G.Khan and Munir Orakzai from FATA, Kabir Ali Wasti and Gen Majeed Malik.

After the meeting, Chaudhry Shujaat urged the opposition to change its attitude and return to the negotiation table.

The system, he said, developed by President Pervez Musharraf should be allowed to function, adding that everyone involved should demonstrate the ability to sustain democracy.

Stressing the need for talks, he said that instead of derailing democratic institutions, everyone should work to strengthen them.

Defending the speaker’s ruling, Mr Shujaat said that he (the speaker) had done nothing wrong by ruling on a pending query filed by an opposition member.

The ruling party, he said, enjoyed the support of 192 members in the National Assembly against the opposition’s strength of 142-143.

Mr Shujaat said the government wanted to avoid confrontation as it led to nothing but destruction, adding that it might lead the game to slip out of everyone’s hands.

Discounting the opposition’s threat of moving a no-trust motion every week, the meeting was told that once such a motion was defeated, no such motion could be moved for another six months.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that the opposition intended to march on to the Supreme court to pressurise the judiciary, which was considering an application challenging the veracity of the educational qualifications of some 65 of the MMA legislators.

He said that while they could not be allowed to dictate the majority, adding that only MNAs would be allowed to reach the parliament.