ISLAMABAD Nov 10: Prime Minister Mir Zafraullah Khan Jamali on Monday said the opposition was “welcome” to launch a public protest campaign on the LFO issue any time it wanted.

Mr Jamali was talking with a group of journalists at an Iftar-dinner hosted by Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain on the lawns of the Parliament House.

Expressing his doubts about the opposition’s inability to launch such a movement, the prime minister said: “Why has the opposition failed to launch this movement, which it had been threatening for the past one year? And why does it want to launch such a movement?”

When the newsmen answered in unison: “Against the LFO, of course.” He quipped back: “Then they are welcome to it.”

He declined to comment on the possibility of Gen Pervez Musharraf’s entry into politics when he was called to comment on a television interview in which federal information minister Sheikh Rashid had hinted at the the president giving up his military post to become the chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q.

The prime minister said: “I did not watch Sheikh Rashid’s television interview and am, therefore, unable to comment on its content.”

Referring to his meetings with ARD chairman Amin Fahim and MMA leader Liaqat Baloch during the assembly proceedings on Monday, the prime minister jokingly said: “I told them ... not to push themselves too hard in ... Ramazan”.

“I also told them that the government will very soon settle the constitutional problem with the opposition,” Mr Jamali said.

PPI adds: The prime minister said that the LFO was a non- issue and the opposition had no justification to launch an agitation campaign.

Urging the opposition to modify its behaviour, he said that it should give up the policy of “opposition for the sake of opposition.”

Commenting about his remarks about the parliament’s performance, he said that he had been misquoted, adding that he had stated that he was not fully satisfied with the performance of the Parliament.

Emphasizing the need for both the government and the opposition to play their due role in the smooth functioning of the Parliament, he said that while the Treasury benches were playing a positive role in this regard, the opposition had confined itself to playing a negative role, adding that was why he had said he was not satisfied in that regard.

He also expressed his regrets that the opposition had boycotted the Iftar-dinner.