ISLAMABAD, July 12: The cabinet on Saturday extended its support to President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in their efforts to resolve the deadlock with the opposition.

The prime minister was assured by the cabinet that it would stand by the president and the prime minister in their efforts aimed at resolving the political deadlock and ensuring smooth running of parliament.

The cabinet, which met with the prime minister in the chair, left it to the president to hold talks with the opposition directly or through a negotiating team.

The prime minister will consult the coalition partners before starting meetings with the opposition leaders from Sunday onwards.

Briefing newsmen, Information Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed said the need for reiterating support to the president had arisen from “a false impression” created by a section of the press as if the government had been coerced into showing flexibility to the opposition following the last session of the National Assembly which was called to discuss the no-trust motion against the deputy speaker.

The minister avoided a direct reply when asked whether the government had agreed to show flexibility on the LFO in its proposed talks with the opposition. However, he clarified, “our stand is that the LFO was part of the Constitution while the opposition had a different opinion”.

He said let the things come up for discussion, adding that whatever agreement would be reached on contentious issues it would be brought in shape of an amendment bill for the assent of the assembly.

He said the cabinet had discussed the Afghan policy in light of the recent occurrences in Kabul and Kandahar and the clashes in border areas with Pakistan, and added that certain decisions had been taken.

In reply to a question, the minister said he had fulfilled the promise he had made to the print media owners by getting approval of the cabinet to allow at least 10 additional television channels in the private sector. He pledged that he would now focus his attention on the implementation of the 7th Wage Award.

Asked whether the cabinet had discussed the question of sending troops to Iraq, the minister said the matter did not come up for discussion.

Answering a query, the minister said Pakistan and India had already started the peace process, especially relating to the confidence-building measures, with an active international support but the two, he added, had their own respective approaches to the process.

He said the cabinet had approved deregulation policy of the Telecom sector which would allow print media to launch their television channels.

The cabinet approved an amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure, ensuring grant of bail to women accused of an offence punishable with imprisonment of less than 10 years. Sub- section (1) of section 497 of the Cr.PC 1898 (Act V of 1898) will thus be amended by inserting a new proviso which says that “provided that a woman accused of an offence punishable with imprisonment of less than 10 years shall be released on bail”.

The prime minister described the amendment as a token of his government’s and nation’s tribute to the Madar-i-Millat whose year is being currently observed.

The cabinet approved the conversion of the Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan into a public limited company from a statutory corporation to facilitate sale of its shares to private buyers.

It approved the trade agreement between Pakistan and Argentina, an agreement with Azerbaijan on tourism development, signing of international treaty on plant genetic resources and signing of the ECO trade agreement during the forthcoming meeting of the ECO trade and commerce ministers in Islamabad.

Taking notice of the sudden increase in the prices of Urea, the cabinet issued directive to lower the prices within eight days.

The ministries of agriculture and industries were directed to ensure prompt provision and availability of farm pesticides across the country. The cabinet expressed concern over reports of sale of adulterated drugs and directed the health minister to take steps to combat the menace.