25 October 2004	Monday	10 Ramazan 1425

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ISLAMABAD Oct 24: The government has rejected the combined opposition's demand for the repeal of the bill passed by the National Assembly last week allowing President Gen Pervez Musharraf to hold two offices at the same time.

This demand was a pre-condition for talks with the government. However, it has expressed the desire to initiate political dialogue exclusively with the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), leaving out the rest of the opposition led by the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD).

Speaking to reporters at an Iftar dinner hosted in honour of media-persons at a hotel here on Sunday, Federal Minister for Information Sheikh Rashid Ahmed claimed that some sort of talks were already in progress with the MMA.

But he did not elaborate the level of these talks. His recent one-hour meeting with NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani appears to be part of the talks.

The minister warned the MMA of dire consequences if, instead of saving its two provincial governments, it allowed itself to be used by the ARD for the latter's ulterior motives. Both, government and the religious alliance, will suffer if any mishap occurred due to the mistakes of politicians at this stage while the ARD would be least affected, he said.

Asked how the government would bring the opposition to the negotiation table when it (opposition) was demanding repeal of the bill on president's uniform, the minister said: "It is a known fact that once a piece of law is passed there is no going back on it."

He said that those who claimed to be the champions of democracy and sovereignty of parliament should also accept the bill passed by parliament. If they were not satisfied, they might move court against it, he said.

Asked about the pace of Pakistan-India dialogue, he said the two countries had set new dates for advancing the process forward and hopefully both would progress in the next round.

He admitted that the government had failed in completing the quorum in the National Assembly and asked the treasury and opposition members to fulfil their responsibility after availing travelling and daily allowances.

This frequent problem had tarnished the image of parliament, he said, adding that there were 60 ministers and ministers of state who together with parliamentary secretaries alone could complete the quorum.

The information minister, who is also chief spokesman of the government, in his meeting with the Frontier chief minister had delivered a message of the federal government and discussed with him matters pertaining to the inter-government relations.

Mr Rashid said: "The government is already in contact with the opposition at a certain level. Now a decision on this issue lies with Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Qazi Hussain Ahmed."

He said that if the MMA felt the three-member ministerial team was not powerful, it should set its agenda first for holding talks on even higher-level.

The minister dismissed as rubbish rumours about a winding up of the system and said that in this respect, he agreed with thepresident's assertion that the present assemblies would complete their five-year term.

He said the world situation demanded that the assemblies should continue functioning. The two provincial governments (run bythe MMA) should also take extra care to safeguard themselves, he added.

Mr Rashid said every one was aware of the limitations of democracy in Pakistan; therefore every step must be taken with care.

In reply to a query about the tearing down of ballot papers by some opposition members during the no-trust motion against speaker, the information minister said: "It was for the speaker to decide on an action against those members, but one thing is clear that the opposition has made Pakistan an object of ridicule in the world."