ISLAMABAD, July 22: The ruling and opposition parties are likely to find themselves on a rough road when they begin another round of talks, possibly at the weekend, to resolve their dispute over the controversial Legal Framework Order (LFO).

Despite some optimistic pronouncements by Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali, political sources said on Tuesday there was a little chance for his initiative to break the deadlock over one of the country’s most serious political controversies in recent years would produce an early breakthrough.

Rather, the sources said, President Pervez Musharraf’s insistence to retain his sweeping powers, particularly to remain army chief as long as he considers it necessary, could prove to be a brick wall that would prolong the nine-month-old political confrontation.

Prime Minister Jamali is yet to set a date for his promised conference with parliamentary leaders of political parties that government sources say may be held on Saturday after the return of some party leaders from both camps from their foreign trips.

But the initial optimism generated by his offer early this month to resume the broken dialogue as well as separate meetings with at least four opposition politicians sagged after a virtual snub from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

OPPOSITION SUSPICIONS: Though President Musharraf had also promised “flexibility” on the issue when he returned from a four-nation Western trip, opposition parties suspect his blessing for Chaudhry’s Shujaat’s repeated statements from abroad that “settled” issues cannot be reopened and that the president himself will decide when to become a civilian.