ISLAMABAD, Dec 29: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, on Wednesday failed to resolve differences over the issue of President Pervez Musharraf's uniform.

The two leaders held a one-to-one meeting at the Prime Minister's House and discussed the overall political situation, but neither of them offered any concession to help defuse the government-opposition stand-off over President Musharraf's retaining the army office beyond Dec 31.

During the meeting, Maulana Fazl reiterated the opposition's viewpoint with regard to the MMA-government agreement on the issue. He also demanded inclusion of the religion column in the machine-readable passports.

After their meeting, both leaders appeared before a group of journalists and said that the talks were held in a cordial atmosphere and hoped that the process would continue.

While Prime Minister Aziz stressed the need for congenial atmosphere for strengthening the democratic process, Maulana Fazl demanded implementation of the MMA-government agreement which required the president to shed his uniform before Dec 31.

Maulana Fazl turned down the prime minister's offer to consider MMA's reservations about the National Security Council if it softened its stand on the uniform issue. He told Mr Aziz that the two issues were separate and could not be mixed.

Later talking to Dawn, Maulana Fazl said the meeting would neither affect MMA's plan to observe black day on the uniform issue on Jan 31, nor the opposition's planned agitation.

He said he would start consulting other leaders of the MMA, including Qazi Hussain Ahmed, to convene a meeting of the alliance's supreme council to brief it on his talks with the prime minister.

When asked about the outcome of the talks, the prime minister said: "It is a continuous process which will be continued." He said the meeting was necessary to create an atmosphere of understanding.

He said that Maulana Fazl had expressed reservations over certain issues which he had promised to look into. The prime minister said that an environment of understanding which was necessary for the successful progress of democracy had been created as a result of his meeting with the MMA leader.

Mr Aziz said both he and Maulana Fazl had agreed to continue such contacts to address the issues emerging from time to time. He said they had detailed talks on a host of issues, including Kashmir, relations with Saarc countries and international issues and this process would continue in the future.

He said it was an open agenda meeting meant to create understanding. In his brief remarks, Maulana Fazl said the opposition wanted complete restoration of the constitution, revival of democracy and strengthening of parliament and that he had met the prime minister in the spirit of goodwill.

He said that he told the prime minister that the government should refrain from complicating settled issues and stressed the need for implementing the MMA-government agreement.

He said that he had expressed his reservations over the law that allowed General Musharraf to retain his uniform beyond Dec 31 and reiterated opposition's stand on the issue.

The Maulana said the MMA was fully supportive of the democratic process and wanted it to be strengthened so that after the completion of its tenure the present parliament passed on a strong system to the future leadership.

He said he agreed with the prime minister's idea of continuing the process of dialogue for improving the atmosphere, but a major responsibility lay with the government.

The MMA leader said he had told the prime minister that the demand for the president to relinquish one of the offices could not be bargained with any other thing, including the NSC formation. The prime minister saw off Maulana Fazl when a question-answer session was about to begin and returned for an informal chat with journalists.

APP ADDS: The two leaders told reporters that they had a useful meeting. Mr Aziz said the meeting was part of efforts to achieve greater understanding. "The meeting was aimed at strengthening Pakistan, democracy and democratic institutions and to discuss and solve problems with consensus," he said.