20 July 2004	Tuesday	02 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

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ISLAMABAD July 19: Political parties had evolved a consensus on the proposed bill to amend the Political Parties Order 2000 four months ago, Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said on Monday.

The bill was passed by the National Assembly on Monday and would now be sent to Senate to seek its assent. He was talking to newsmen at a dinner reception at a local hotel here. The prime minister was accompanied by Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz.

He expressed surprise over the opposition's dissent over the amended law and said it would equally benefit other parties as it would the Pakistan Muslim League. He said the constitution's real spirit had been revived after the deletion of Section 9, which, he added, would be put to debate in the upper house.

He said that it might take a couple of days or more to approve the same. He said that both the National Assembly and senate were sovereign institutions and they could not be coerced to pass anything hastily.

Commenting on the Sindh governor's statement about the possibility of imposing a ban on the Jamaat-i-Islami, the prime minister denied that any such statement had been issued by the governor at all.

Referring to the Kargil controversy, Chaudhry Shujaat said that he had already stated under oath that Gen Musharraf had taken former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in confidence on the issue, and dared him (Mr Sharif) to declare under oath that his statement was false.

He said: "I insist that he (Mr Sharif) was taken into confidence." Chaudhry Shujaat denied that anyone in the party had expressed any reservation on the nomination of Shaukat Aziz as the next prime minister, especially by Hamid Nasir Chattha.

The prime minister, who had arrived about two-and-a-half hour late because of his meeting with Hamid Nasir Chattha, said that no such issue existed in the party and he had not discussed the issue with the PML leader on Monday.

Referring to the government's intentions on legislation on honour killings, the prime minister said: "We are discussing it within the party right now and will take a decision after consultations."