September 20, 2003	Saturday	Rajab 22, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: The federal cabinet on Friday approved a constitutional amendment package which was handed over to the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal with the hope that the controversy on the Legal Framework Order would finally come to an end.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad told a news conference on Friday that the package approved by the cabinet envisaged that the decision as to when President Gen Musharraf would leave the office of the COAS be left to him.

Two hours after the press conference, the official media said the time when the president would lay down his uniform “has been agreed.”

The information minister, however, said the other issues relating to the president, including his uniform, had been “almost settled.”

The minister said he would not go into the details as his mandate to speak on the issue was limited.

Asked if President Gen Pervez Musharraf had agreed to what was being proposed to the MMA, the minister said it was in his (president’s) knowledge.

The minister said that if the package was accepted by the MMA, it would be presented in the National Assembly jointly by the government and the MMA. He said the government’s position that the LFO was part of the Constitution stood unchanged.

The minister said the president would continue to enjoy discretionary powers to dissolve the National Assembly if the running of the government was not possible in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

The president after dissolving the National Assembly under Article 58(2)(B) would send a reference to the Supreme Court for its approval. The Supreme Court would make a decision on the president’s reference within 30 days.

The president would seek a vote of confidence from the electoral college — the National Assembly, the Senate and the provincial assemblies. But it would not be an election of the president as provided in the Constitution. His election as president of the country by virtue of a referendum would remain valid.

There would be a National Security Council but not as envisaged in the LFO. It would not be a Constitutional body and would be established through an act of parliament.

The president would continue enjoying the powers to appoint the chairman joint chiefs of staff committee and services chiefs but would do so in “consultation” with the prime minister.

About the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, which bars parliament from amending the laws included in it without prior approval of the president, the minister said a committee headed by the prime minister would look into the matter.

The committee headed by the prime minister would consist of all the chief ministers, and chairman National Reconstruction Bureau. The committee would consider the grievances of the provinces about the Police Order, and the Local Government Ordinance. The findings of the committee would be accepted by President Gen Pervez Musharraf. The three-year extension given to all the judges of the Supreme Court and high courts would not be withdrawn. The minister said the judges in other countries were retiring at the later ages.