ISLAMABAD, May 31: President Pervez Musharraf is about to take an "important step for the restoration of law and order and protection of life and property of the people" in Karachi , Information and Broadcasting Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Tuesday.

He told Dawn that the president had taken a serious notice of the recent terrorism incidents in Karachi. But he declined to elaborate what step the president had in mind, saying he could not say more than what he had been authorized.

However, the minister said the president had expressed his concern over the two terrorism incidents in two consecutive days resulting in the loss of several human lives. He said the president was personally monitoring the law and order situation in Karachi and had directed provincial authorities to take effective steps to check such incidents.

He said as in the past, all culprits involved in the recent terrorist incidents in Karachi would be arrested soon. About the two attempts on the life of Gen Pervez Musharraf last December, the information minister said a total of 11 soldiers of Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Force had been arrested and soon they would be court-martialled.

He said eight soldiers had been held in connection with the first attack on Gen Musharraf which took place on a bridge in Rawalpindi on Dec 14 and three soldiers had been detained in connection with the second attempt, also in Rawalpindi, on Dec 25.

Earlier in the day, talking to reporters at Parliament House, the minister said the armed forces fully supported the policies of Gen Musharraf. Mr Ahmed said there was a possibility that the Political Parties Order would be amended to allow a person to holding government and party offices simultaneously.

About the president's uniform, the minister said that Gen Musharraf would take no step against the spirit of the 17th Constitutional Amendment. He denied that Maulana Fazlur Rahman had been nominated as the opposition leader as a result of any deal between the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) and the government.

He expressed the hope that Maulana Fazlur Rahman would play a positive role as the opposition leader. He defended the speaker's decision to nominate Maulana Fazlur Rahman as the opposition leader.