May 22, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 16, 1429

ISLAMABAD, May 21: President Pervez Musharraf has described as baseless reports that he had made an offer to the Pakistan People’s Party to resign if actions taken by him under the state of emergency imposed on Nov 3 last year are given indemnity.

According to sources, the president rejected the reports during a meeting with Pakistan Muslim League-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and MNA Chaudhry Hamid Nasir Chattha on Tuesday.

According to the sources, Gen (retd) Musharraf said he would continue to serve as the constitutionally elected president and would not compromise his position in return for any offer made by the coalition government.

They said the PML-Q leaders had gone to the president to seek information relating to the media reports.

President’s spokesman Rashid Qureshi said he was not aware of the discussion held at the meeting. Chaudhry Shujaat’s media office also said it knew little about the meeting.

Mr Chattha told reporters on Wednesday that they had held routine discussion with the president on ‘some issues’ which, according to him, did not include re-unification of the PML.

Replying to a question, he said he was neither a candidate for the post of the chief minister of Punjab nor for the top slot of the party. He said he would not accept any change in the party.

He kept quiet when asked if the situation in Punjab had been discussed in the meeting.

When asked about the possibility of the PML-Q merging into the PML-N, Mr Chattha said: “You may ask the Chaudhrys if they have anything on their mind about it.”

He said he would continue ‘overt’ interaction with the president. He said there was no proposal of a change of guard in the PML-Q or its alliance with the PPP.