ISLAMABAD, April 25: Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad expressed his optimism on Friday that government-opposition parleys on constitutional matters would be successful.

“Do not expect something big on the first day,” the minister said while talking to reporters here in his chambers in the Parliament House, and added that at least a “process has started.”

Only the chiefs of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP), the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) and the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) were scheduled to meet on the first day at the Prime Minister House, said Sheikh Rashid, who has been endorsed by President Gen Pervez Musharraf as a government spokesman.

“I am the one who is saying from the day one that ice will melt and amicable solution bound to be reached at,” he said while watching his every word in a bid not to create acrimony between the government-opposition relationship.

Asked what will happen today (Friday), the minister said committees would be formed and the process would continue for sometime.

“How pleasant the parliament was looking today without protest,” he remarked, adding that the ruling party intended to take the opposition into confidence regarding all affairs.

The nation had a sigh of relief after the “ending of the deadlock” and everything was done “smoothly today,” he said.