July 4, 2003	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 3,1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 3: President Pervez Musharraf will meet his close aides immediately after arriving from France with a view to breaking the deadlock between the government and the combined opposition over the Legal Framework Order (LFO).

Sources close to the president told Dawn here on Thursday that President Musharraf would show “maximum flexibility” to reach a compromise with the opposition on all thorny issues.

Some mutual friends of the president and opposition leaders, the sources said, were working to arrange an early meeting between the two sides.

Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has already declined to arrange such a meeting, saying “politicians know how to contact the GHQ and the presidency” and that he would not become a conduit for such a meeting.”

The sources said that the president was being persuaded to give a timeframe of two to two-and-a-half years for removing his military uniform and in return the opposition was expected to give up its other demands.

“If the president accepts this proposal, the MMA will no more be opposing the government but nothing can be said about the PPPP and PML-N,” a source said.

He, however, said that the government was once again considering contacting the PPP leadership.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad when contacted told Dawn that the continuing deadlock between the government and the opposition over the LFO was expected to be resolved after the arrival of the President.

“Now there are fifty-fifty chances for rapprochement,” he said indicating that some behind the scene moves were continuing which could pave the way for president’s meeting with some of the opposition leaders.

“The president is in a position to concede some ground and I am not all that opposed to such concessions,” the Information Minister said.

Responding to a question, he said he hoped that both president and the opposition would show certain flexibility to resolve contentious political and constitutional issues.

He said he was hopeful that there would be some good news once the president reached Islamabad from France. But he warned that things could worsen if the MMA leadership continued to remain hostage in the hands of the PPPP and the PML-N.

Sheikh Rashid said that the opposition had become a laughing stock by indulging in childish and immature politics.