ISLAMABAD May 18: The 11-member government-opposition committee, deliberating upon the Legal Framework Order (LFO), will hold its concluding session here on Monday (today), sources told this correspondent on Sunday.
The committee is expected to endorse the final draft of recommendations, compiled by Speaker of the National Assembly Chaudhry Amir Hussain and agreed upon by the two sides during the past two weeks.
Before beginning deliberations on the draft report, participants would hand over in writing the stand of their respective parties on various issues related with the LFO.
Hafiz Hussain Ahmed of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, a member of the joint committee, said on Sunday that the religio- political alliance would forward some proposals on the ideological aspects of the constitutional matters in addition to its stand on the seven contentious items of the LFO.
He said that the written drafts, which would be handed over by various parties, would not be made public but the essence of these parties’ positions were already well known.
The committee would, after finalisation of the draft proposals, hand it over to Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali.
Prime Minister Jamali, the MMA leader said, would then convene a meeting before May 25 and attempt to seek the approval of heads of the parliamentary groups representing the government and the opposition parties.
He said that after the conclusion of this exercise, the approved constitutional package would be presented before the National Assembly for discussion in the shape of a bill and would be adopted if ratified by a two-third majority.
Commenting on the government’s multi-pronged strategy to tackle the LFO issue, sources said that the government’s strategy included resumption of behind the scene negotiations with the People’s Party Parliamentarians on an alleged “package deal” offering “concessions” to chairperson of the PPP Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari.
In another related development, sources said, the government had also indicated its readiness to the PML-N to allow Mr Shahbaz Shahrif to return to Pakistan “under an arrangement.”
Sources said that approaching the governments of the NWFP and Balochistan in a bid to persuade them to ask the leaderships of various political parties to come to terms on constitutional matters comprised another aspect of the strategy.
Earlier, on Thursday, speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain, along with Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, had held a detailed meeting with the prime minister to discuss matters pertaining to the committee’s working and proposals on the LFO.