September 19, 2007	Wednesday	Ramazan 06, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Sept 18: President Gen Pervez Musharraf held a meeting with ruling Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and his top legal aide Sharifuddin Pirzada on Tuesday evening and discussed with them issues pertaining to his re-election and the opposition’s threat of quitting the assemblies.

Various options open to the president and measures to defuse the political crisis were also discussed.

The PML leadership has been publicly stating in recent days that the president’s options were shrinking and chances of getting a constitutional amendment adopted had already been lost, thereby forcing the government to go for amending the presidential election rules through the Election Commission.

Earlier in the day, the president held another meeting with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, some ministers and president’s military advisers including his chief of staff Lt Gen (retd) Hamid Javed. Sources said they discussed in detail the day’s proceedings in the Supreme Court with special reference to the reaction of the opposition and lawyers to the statement submitted by the president’s counsel in the apex court.

Chaudhry Shujaat briefed the president on the ruling coalition’s strength in the electoral college for the presidential election. The issue of some dissent in the party was also discussed.

The declaration by the president about taking off his uniform after his re-election has put the ruling party in a quandary because of a threat from some dissenting members who had urged the party leadership to persuade Gen Musharraf to quit his army post before his election. Some of them have threatened not to vote for a president in uniform, others have said they may abstain from voting but would not apply for the party ticket in the coming elections.

The threat of All Parties Democratic Movement to quit assemblies was also discussed, the sources said.

According to the sources, Sharifuddin Pirzada briefed the president on the Supreme Court proceedings and obtained his approval on his time of action.