ISLAMABAD, Nov 28: A meeting between President Gen Pervez Musharraf and the leadership of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) is expected in the first week of December to discuss the issues of the Legal Framework Order (LFO) and the uniform, a source told Dawn here on Friday.

The source said the meeting would likely take place on Dec 5 and a formal invitation to the MMA leadership for this purpose would be extended in the next few days.

The source claimed that Gen Musharraf would take the MMA leadership into confidence regarding the cut-off date for the removal of his uniform and ask the religious parties’ alliance not to press for its demand of including this date in the proposed constitutional package.

The source said Gen Musharraf was preparing to meet the MMA leadership after receiving reports that the MMA leaders were ready to give him several concessions. The MMA, he said, had agreed not to press for its demand for fresh presidential election, and that it had told the government that it was ready to support Gen Musharraf as president in a vote of confidence.

MMA’s parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Qazi Hussain Ahmed, while speaking at a dinner hosted by the alliance for the delegates of International Muslim Women Conference in Islamabad recently, had stated that the religious alliance had agreed to support the government in introducing an amendment to the Constitution through which Gen Musharraf would be required to seek a vote of confidence from the assemblies as at present there was no such provision available in the Constitution.

When contacted, MMA’s leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said the MMA had not yet received any invitation from the president for a meeting. He said the MMA was firm on its deadline of Dec 18, and that the government had no option but to bring the proposed constitutional package to parliament.

He said all the points, including the president’s uniform, had been agreed in the talks with the government. He said as such there was no need for talks between the religious alliance and Gen Musharraf as the president was represented by Tariq Aziz in the talks.