ISLAMABAD, Aug 12: President General Pervez Musharraf has declined to meet opposition leaders, and said unless a package deal is worked out and agreed upon between the two sides, it would be a futile exercise to have any individual or collective inter-action with the opposition.

Sources close to the president told Dawn here on Tuesday that President Musharraf had once again called for forging a consensus between the government and the opposition before he met the opposition leaders.

“The meeting between the president and the opposition leaders will only be held when something has been decided and the chapter closed once and for all over the LFO or his military uniform issues,” they said.

Pakistan Muslim League-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain confirmed to Dawn that Gen Musharraf had no plans whatsoever to invite or meet opposition leaders unless a package deal was struck on all disputed issues.

“Under the prevailing political situation why should the president meet any opposition leader,” he asked. He said the president had asked him to continue efforts for achieving a comprehensive deal on all issues.

However, Mr Shujaat said, there was a deadlock in talks because of the irresponsible attitude of the opposition parties.

“No, I don’t see an early breakthrough,” the PML-Q President said adding it seemed it would take a long time before any deal is struck between the two sides,” the PML-Q leader said.

He blamed the MMA leaders for the current situation and regretted that this problem was deepening with the passage of time. “There is a persistent deadlock because the MMA does not stick to one thing and every time it comes up with new things which is not acceptable to us nor to President Musharraf.”

“We will recommend to the president to meet MMA or any other opposition leader only when we find that grounds have been prepared in terms of narrowing down our differences with them (the Opposition),” the PML president said.

When asked what was the real issue, he said the president’s military uniform was perhaps irking the opposition leaders the most but, “let me advise them through you that they should forget about it as General Sahib is not at all ready to concede anything on this issue nor we, the Leaguers, want that to happen,” he said.

He said it was in the interest of the nation that the president continued wearing two hats simultaneously for some considerable length of time.

He denied that he or any of his colleague ever gave an undertaking to the MMA that the president would take off his military uniform by Oct 2004 or Oct 2005.

Mr Shujaat said that the MMA had raised another issue which was related to local governments.

“As long as they continue raising issues, there cannot be any solution to the present deadlock,” he said.

When asked who was sabotaging the talks between the government and the opposition, he said the People’s Party and the PML-N did not want any breakthrough because of their own vested interests.