LAHORE, April 16: A deep cleavage between the ruling party and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal on the issue of the LFO widened further on Wednesday when the PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Husain declared that the government would not be pressured by the opposition and that parliament will continue to function with or without its participation.

Talking to Dawn he dismissed the speculations that the assemblies might be dissolved if the deadlock-like situation continued.

“The parliament cannot be dissolved. Such a threat can only become real if the ruling party also lost interest in the workings of the legislature (which is not the case)”.

Chaudhry Shujaat said the NA session had been called by the government, and it will set the agenda. The quorum would be maintained and the proceedings will continue during the session scheduled to resume on Friday.

“The issue of Gen Musharraf’s uniform does not concern the ruling party,” Chaudhry Shujaat said on an issue which is a major irritant for the opposition parties.

Replying to a question, he said that all opposition parties had asked him in writing in October last year to hold talks with the government on the LFO, which meant that every one of them had accepted the constitutional amendments, giving protection to the actions taken and policies pursued during the three-year rule of Gen Musharraf, a part of the basic law.

The PML-Q leader alleged that the opposition parties were playing to the gallery as in the talks with the government they had accepted the LFO as part of the Constitution, but changed their stance during the assembly sessions.

He insisted that the LFO had become an integral part of the Constitution, and was fully operative. Talks with the opposition were being held to “amend” various articles.

According to Chaudhry Shujaat, points on which there was some compromise between the two sides would be brought in parliament in the form of a private bill on a private member’s day and would be approved with a two-thirds majority. This way, the articles on which the opposition had some reservations, would be amended. Other articles would remain intact in their original form, he clarified.

Replying to another question, the PML-Q chief said the president’s address to the joint session of parliament was for the legislators, and in case they were not willing to listen, the president would not make such a speech. But, he said, by refusing to listen to the president, the opposition would deprive itself of an opportunity to give a critical assessment of the government’s policies.

He said the speech Gen Musharraf would deliver to the joint session, if at all it was called, would be provided by the government, as is the practice in a parliamentary democracy. However, he said, in his speech the president could also include his personal advice on various issues.