ISLAMABAD, Sept 4: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday assured PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz that the deal being negotiated with the PPP would have no adverse effect on the ruling party.

Informed sources told Dawn that the words of comfort were offered at a meeting which was attended also by the chief ministers of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan.

However, the president’s spokesman Major Gen (retd) Rashid Qureshi said he was aware only of Gen Musharraf’s meeting with the PML president and the prime minister.

“The meeting discussed the fast-developing political situation in the country,” he said, adding that issues concerning security and law and order were also discussed, with particular reference to the two suicide attacks in Rawalpindi earlier in the day.

According to the sources, Chaudhry Shujaat expressed concern over the deal which was reported to have been almost clinched.

He stressed that the ruling party and its coalition partners needed to be fully informed about details of the agreement.

Matters relating to early dissolution of the National Assembly were also discussed but no decision was taken, the sources said.

Immediately after the meeting, the PML president called Tariq Aziz, Secretary of the National Security Council (NSC), by phone to know what agreement had been reached regarding the powers of the president under Article 58-2(b), the law barring third term as prime minister and the pre-election caretaker set-up.

The sources said the president also briefed the PML leaders on the issue of his army chief’s post, which both Chaudhry Shujaat and Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi want him to retain.

The president assured the participants that interests of the ruling party and its coalition partners would be fully safeguarded and they would not be abandoned as being predicted in the electronic and print media.

The meeting also stressed the need for holding the presidential and general elections in a fair, free and transparent manner to meet the demands of opposition parties as well as the international community, especially the United States and the European Union.

When approached, Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said that most of the issues with Ms Benazir Bhutto had been resolved and everything was moving in the right direction.

Asked about the president’s meeting with Chaudhry Shujaat and the prime minister, Sheikh Rashid said that Gen Musharraf had assured the PML chief that the interests of the ruling party and its allies in parliament would be “fully protected”.

He said: “This is going to be good for everyone and now Ms Bhutto will fight against terrorism and extremism alongside Gen Musharraf.”

He said all his predictions about a political arrangement between the PPP and the president were being confirmed.

He said: “I had also said that Ms Bhutto would not side with Nawaz Sharif and this also is proving correct.”

Apparently alluding to the Charter of Democracy signed by Ms Bhutto and Mian Nawaz Sharif, he said that “Misaq and Jamhooriat” were headed in opposite directions.