July 22, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 21, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 21: President Pervez Musharraf is expected to meet Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Tuesday to delineate the limits, which the prime minister can go in his meeting with the opposition leaders on July 26, sources told Dawn on Monday.

They said that the president-prime minister meeting, which was expected to be held on Monday to “mandate” the prime minister in this regard, had been postponed because of unspecified reasons.

Sources said that the president was “flexible” on the issue of dual offices and stood by what he had said during his airport press conference held after his arrival from the four- nation tour of the United States and the European Union.

The president had accused the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal of bringing in new set of demands at a moment when the issues had been narrowed down to three of the most contentious issues.

A close presidential aide told Dawn that contrary to what was being printed in the newspapers, the president had expressed willingness to discuss the issue of his uniform in a more discreet manner.

Sources said that though the prime minister was trying to broker a deal regarding issues, including the LFO, the president was not “very hopeful” about resolution of the dispute, adding that the president “firmly believes” that the People’s Party Parliamentarians and the Pakistan Muslim League-N appeared to be “more interested in scoring points than to settle issues”.

Of the 29 amendments which have, introduced in the Constitution by way of the Legal Framework Order, the focus of the dispute remained primarily on Gen Musharraf’s holding of dual posts as chief of the army staff and the president, his discretionary powers to dissolve the National Assembly and the establishment of the National Security Council.

Sources said that the president did not appear to be insisting on formalizing the armed forces’ role in national politics, adding that he could “go to any extent to arrive at a compromise on the formation of the NSC if his views on keeping the uniform for some time are given importance by the opposition parties.”

The president, they said, would not insist to make the NSC a constitutional body, adding that he might even be willing to accept its formation under an act of the parliament.

Sources said that the president would like to keep the office of the COAS for a “substantial period.” If everything goes well, the president would agree only to indicating the year when he would divest his uniform.

The government’s side is, however, ruling out any fixed date for the separation of the offices of COAS and the president.

The opposition parties are divided over the Article 58(2) B, which authorises the president to dissolve the parliament. The MMA has been demanding that the president should be content with the powers to dissolve the government and not the assembly.