ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has said he will stick to PPP’s stand in negotiations on constitutional reforms with the heads of other parliamentary parties, sources told Dawn after a meeting of the party’s ‘think-tank’ here on Friday.

According to the president’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar, he said a consultative process on the issue within the party should be completed within weeks, not months.

'After completing the consultative process within our party, we will be in a better position to talk with other parties,' the president said.

He said the PPP was committed to the principles laid down in the Charter of Democracy and it its manifesto.

The president said the formation of a parliamentary committee for the purpose was a great leap towards the realisation of the dream of ridding the Constitution of all anti-democracy clauses introduced by dictatorial regimes.

He said the PPP should make full use of the opportunity through parliament with the support of all other parties.

The spokesman said the marathon brainstorming session attended by the party’s senior members was held to deliberate on making the Constitution genuinely democratic, federal and parliamentary in character.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Khursheed Shah, Syed Naveed Qamar, Latif Khosa, Masood Kausar, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Rahimdad Khan, Zahir Ali Shah, Raja Riaz Ahmad, Makhdoom Shahbuddin, Mirbaz Khetran, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Chaudhry Manzoor, Mian Raza Rabbani, Afzal Sindhu, Bismillah Kakar, Pir Mazharul Haq, Ayaz Soomro, Sadiq Umrani, Rukhsana Bangash, Fouzia Habib and Farhatullah Babar attended the meeting.

The spokesman said the session was the first of its kind and it was aimed at developing consensus in the party. The exercise did not involve the party’s central executive committee and federal council.

National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza has constituted a committee comprising leaders of all parliamentary parties to make recommendations for constitutional amendments, including repealing the 17th Amendment.

'An announcement about the PPP’s position on various constitutional proposals will be made by its central executive committee after completion of deliberations within a few weeks,' Babar said.