ISLAMABAD May 7: The joint government-opposition constitutional committee has evolved a consensus on the issue of president’s uniform.

The 11-member committee, which held a six-hour-long meeting at the parliament house on Wednesday, completed first reading of the three out of seven contentious items of the Legal Framework Order. Speaker National Assembly Chaudhry Amir Hussain presided over the meeting.

The participants of the meeting said there was a complete unanimity of views on these articles among members from the government and the opposition side.

Some of the opposition members, however, expressed skepticism about the fate of a consensus document even if it was finalized and submitted by the committee to a summit meeting of the government and the opposition parties.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, senator Mohammed Latif Khosa of the People’s Party Parliamentarians brushed aside the fears that the unanimous recommendations of the committee might be rejected by the powers that be if these fell short of their expectations.

He said: “No power could reject unanimous recommendations of the committee”.

An encouraging element was noticed in Wednesday’s deliberations when one of its members admitted that the committee had come closer to a consensus on the issue of president’s uniform.

The items on which the committee completed deliberations included Article 152A, which deals with setting up of National Security Council and Articles 179, 193 and 195 relating to the appointment and retirement age of the Supreme Court and high courts judges.

With the completion of deliberations on five out of seven items, the committee is now left with just two points, the first being Article 243 which gives president discretionary powers and Article 268 under which laws have been added in the 6th Schedule which cannot be amended without the previous sanction of the president.

Riaz Pirzada, MNA of the ruling alliance, and senator Latif Khosa, who briefed newsmen after the meeting, described the atmosphere of talks as congenial and cordial.

When asked whether the committee was getting due cooperation from the government, Latif Khosa said: “We are proceeding ahead with all seriousness and sincerity in a bid to find out a solution to the contentious issues.”

He said the committee would meet on Thursday morning to complete the first reading of the remaining two items after which it would start compiling the items on which both sides had reached a consensus.

To a question, he said all such issues on which there was a difference of opinion, had been noted by an official and would be considered at the time of compiling recommendations.

When asked whether the objections raised by the lawyers’ community against the extension given to the superior courts judges were being considered, Mr Khosa said bar was a part of the judicial system and the committee was taking into account the point of view of country’s various bar bodies including that of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

Dr Sher Afgan, a member of the committee, refused to offer any comment on the pace of deliberations and their possible fate.

Later, Mr Riaz Pirzada read out a joint statement which said: “The negotiating team’s deliberations on constitutional matters lasted for six hours on Wednesday in which all members expressed their views about Article 152A which deals with National Security Council. Besides, articles 179, 193 and 195 pertaining to the appointment and retirement age of judges were also discussed.

“The committee which met with the speaker in the chair included from the government side Senator S. M. Zafar, Dr Sher Afgan Niazi MNA, Riaz Hussain Pirzada MNA, senator Abdur Razzak Thaheem, Syed Safwanullah MNA, while the opposition side was represented by MMA’s Liaquat Baloch and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, PPP Chaudhry Aitizaz Ahsan and Senator Sardar Latif KHosa and PML-N’s Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan”.