ISLAMABAD, Oct 30: The federal cabinet is meeting here on Thursday to discuss a number of important issues including the formation of new federal and provincial governments.

Official sources told Dawn that the cabinet meeting has been convened in the backdrop of continued delay in the formation of new federal and provincial set-ups.

“Although the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting is fairly large including to discuss and approve various measures relating to the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB), the persistent delay in the formation of the government will perhaps be taking more time”, a ministerial source said.

When contacted he said that the meeting to be presided over by President Gen Pervez Musharraf will take into account all the aspects relating to the formation of the new government.

He said that the president was likely to invite the senior leaders of the PML-Q and the PPP and the MMAP to discuss the current political situation. According to some reports, the president was scheduled to meet PML-Q parliamentary leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and the party’s aspirant for prime ministership Mir Zafar ullah Jamli after the cabinet meeting on Thursday.

When approached PML-Q parliamentary leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said that he was quite hopeful to get some “concessions” from the president over the setting up of proposed National Security Council (NSC) and the Legal Framework Order (LFO) so that the formation of the new government could be made possible.