ISLAMABAD, June 28: Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Saturday said he would invite heads of the opposition parties for talks on the LFO issue, but on the premise that the LFO had become part of the Constitution.

The situation, he said, had changed after the National Assembly speaker’s ruling that the LFO had become part of the Constitution.

Talking to newsmen soon after the rejection of the no-trust motion against the speaker, Mr Jamali said now the talks could be held on how to repeal those articles of the Constitution which were unacceptable to legislators. However, he maintained, that would have to be done through the constitutional mechanism provided for repealing the articles.

He said it was the opposition’s right to move as many motions as it wanted and the government would have no objection to that as long as those were done in accordance with the Constitution and rules.

The prime minister said he, after consulting PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and heads of allied parties, would formally invite the heads of opposition parties for talks on the LFO. He did not indicate the date.

Calling President Pervez Musharraf a man of his words, the prime minister said he (the president) honoured his promise of holding elections according to the time-frame set by the Supreme Court. He said the president should be trusted that he would lay down the uniform as he was promising.

He said that filing of the no-confidence motion was the opposition’s right, but the government would try its level best to maintain the sanctity of parliament.

He said both treasury and opposition benches were part of the same system and they must work jointly to safeguard the system.

Mr Jamali said his government would try to solve all the matters through dialogue, but added that the government could not be blackmailed.

He said if the country was destabilized, the blame for that would be on the politicians and they should realize it.