ISLAMABAD, July 26: President Gen Pervez Musharraf has asked Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali and PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to hold talks with opposition leaders on Sunday with “open mind and open heart”, but reminded them that he would not set any timeframe for giving up his uniform.

Informed sources told Dawn that the president was inflexible over the uniform issue and told the two not to accept any “precondition” in this regard.

A meeting attended by Gen Musharraf, Mr Jamali and Chaudhry Shujaat on Saturday reviewed the political situation in the country, said a brief official statement, adding the meeting focused on the forthcoming talks between the ruling coalition and the opposition parties.

Sources quoted the president as having said he was ready to show certain amount of flexibility on 58(2)(b) and the National Security Council, provided the opposition gave up its demand that he should set a timeframe for leaving the post of army chief.

The three reportedly agreed that the opposition should be convinced to bring a bill to the National Assembly on a private member’s day to discuss various provisions of the Legal Framework Order. The president said he had no objection if both sides could break the nine-month-old deadlock by agreeing on any proposed amendment. But he made it amply clear to Mr Jamali and Chaudhry Shujaat that he himself would decide when to leave his army post.

Sources said the president also sounded flexible over the issue of the retirement age of judges. “The president maintains that international environment demands that he should continue serving both in the capacity of the president as well as the army chief for the time being,” said an important PML-Q leader.

The PML-Q leader, preferring not to be named, said the prime minister and the PML-Q’s parliamentary leader were advised by the president to have harmony on vital political issues.

Sources said the president asked the prime minister not to talk about resigning which the latter had threatened to tender when some members criticized the performance of his government at the PML-Q’s central working committee meeting on Thursday.

The president said he was ready to meet opposition leaders to remove differences over the LFO. However, he added, national interest would have to be kept supreme on every matter.

Later, Chaudhry Shujaat went to the Prime Minister’s House and met Mr Jamali to finalize the agenda for the talks with the opposition leaders.