ISLAMABAD, March 5: The National Disaster Management Commission (NDMC), set up through a presidential ordinance in December, held its first meeting here on Monday and took some decisions about its working.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz presided over the meeting which was attended by the four chief ministers, NWFP governor, chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, federal ministers for interior, defence and information, whereas Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani did not participate.

The meeting decided that the commission would be made a world class body and provincial disaster management authorities (PDMA) would be constituted by April 30 to further take it to district and tehsil levels.

The prime minister regretted the absence of opposition leaders and said that he would contact both the leaders to invite them for future meetings.

In response to reporter’s queries, the prime minister said that there was no truth in reports about government’s talks with PPP for a deal.

He parried a question when suggested that one of his cabinet ministers, Sheikh Rashid, had said that the talks with PPP were at an advance stage (terming it pre-quarter-final).