ISLAMABAD, Nov 22: Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali, who begins his second year in office on Sunday, says he exercises full powers given by the Constitution but could not achieve as much as he wanted to in the first year owing to constraints of transition from military to civilian rule.

In a Dawn Dialogue interview, ahead of the first anniversary of his government, he said a civilian setup must have the “upper edge” in a balanced arrangement though the “actual strength” in any developing country lay with the armed forces.

Mr Jamali said the real strength that carried him through the first year since taking office on Nov 23, 2002, after three years of military rule was his policy to introduce a new political culture, free from victimization and harassment of political foes and self-aggrandizement.

The prime minister expressed the confidence that he would be able to reach a settlement with the opposition over the Legal Framework Order (LFO), saying he thought “we have come to the end of the line”.

But he said he faced hurdles in the shape of “innovations” or “clarifications” sought by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) during a prolonged dialogue that was boycotted by the other major opposition grouping, the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD).

Mr Jamali said he would not recognize the ARD as parliamentary opposition because it did not contest the October 10, 2002, general election as an alliance. But he would not rule out talks with its main components, the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). “They are not our enemies.”

The prime minister said the country had gained from his decision to continue with the policies of President Musharraf’s three-year military government, particularly those in the economic field, but he promised to make improvements wherever needed and seek parliamentary approval of future policies, whether they were about the economy, foreign affairs or defence.

He rejected opposition’s charge that the present foreign policy had isolated Pakistan from the Islamic world and pointed to Islamabad’s efforts to remove irritants with neighbouring Iran and Afghanistan while the traditionally close relations with other Muslim countries remained intact.

Mr Jamali accused New Delhi of trying to “create a dent” in the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), the umbrella organization of Kashmiri groups opposing Indian rule that recently split into two factions.

He affirmed Pakistan’s recognition of the APHC faction led by Syed Ali Gilani, but said Islamabad was trying for a reconciliation between the rival groups.

The prime minister said he felt President Musharraf had no intention of becoming president of the ruling party after he left his post of the Chief of the Army Staff though there would be no bar on him doing so.

Mr Jamali said the government had no ill-will against the opposition, but warned that “going out of the parameters (of law) will cause pain”.

In reply to a question about a large number of civilian government posts being occupied by military personnel, the prime minister said many of them had been already withdrawn and a gradual slide-down would continue.

He disapproved of the reported conduct of some ministers in getting lower-level officials transferred or punished because of personal grudges and said such attitude would not create a good image about the administration.