It was the first meeting after the federal government made it clear that it would not allow retrogressive forces to promote fanaticism and narrow view of the religion in the province.
Official sources said the meeting was also attended by the NWFP Governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah, Lt General Hamid Javed and Chief of General Staff to President.
The official announcement said the PM and the NWFP CM discussed a wide range of matter relating to province and exchanged views on various political and constitutional matters.
Both leaders discussed issues which have caused friction between the federation and NWFP government. An MMA source told Dawn that Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali had assured Mr Durrani that federal government would not take any extreme step against the provincial government.
It was also agreed that the district Nazims’ dispute would be resolved through mutual consultation between the provincial governor and chief minister.
The chief minister complained that the statement issued by the federal information minister was not in good taste and was vitiating the atmosphere and he should be checked. The MMA sources said the prime minister assured the NWFP CM that he would ask the information minister to tone down his utterances.
The MMA source further said that it was agreed that the federal government would select new chief secretary and inspector general police from a panel of six officers. The panel of officers, three for IGP and three for chief secretary, would be provided by the NWFP Chief Minister.
Official sources are tight-lipped about the outcome of the meeting and were not ready to commit whether the meeting was a success or failure. They, however, said the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere.
The official announcement said prime minister also said that the PML government believed in the politics of consensus and was determined to resolve the present political situation amicably and let the democratic system in the country work smoothly.
The sources said the PM told the CM in unequivocal terms that a sect with a fanatic and narrow view of the religion must not be promoted.
INTERVIEW: Earlier, Chief Minister Durrani in an exclusive interview with Dawn in Peshawar on Thursday said PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat HUssain had rung him up in the morning and assured him that the federal government would take the NWFP government into confidence on issues concerning the province.
He said he had been told that Prime Minister Jamali would discuss the situation arising out of the resignation of 24 district Nazims over alleged interference by the provincial government. “Chaudhry Shujaat has assured me that the provincial government would be consulted on key issues concerning the province.”
Mr Durrani said the PML-Q president had also regretted a statement made by federal information minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmad in which the minister had called MMA legislators as “political illiterates” and said such things would not be repeated.
Describing the federal government’s move to replace the chief secretary and the provincial police chief as ‘totally unjustified’, Mr Durrani said he would lodge a strong protest with the federal government over this.
He said he did not know what caused the ire of the federal government but reckoned that this could have been the result of the passage of the Shariat Bill. “A week ago, the federal government was praising us for our financial discipline and the law and order situation. What caused this change of heart and mind in one night, I fail to understand.”
He also said he felt slighted at not having been invited to last week’s meeting that was attended by President Gen Musharraf, Prime Minister Jamali and governors and prime ministers of the other three provinces. “Disregarding me amounts to disregarding the NWFP,” he remarked. “I would have explained and cleared their apprehensions.”
Praising Gen Musharraf as a “good and blunt man”, Chief Minister Durrani said that he would have made an effort to apprise the president of the factual situation. “There are some elements that are spreading all this poison against my government.”
He insisted that his government was not against the district government system and would continue to make efforts to run it in accordance with the law and the Constitution. He defended the action taken against the Nazims of Kohistan and Bannu but said they had been provided an opportunity to clarify their position before a house committee of the NWFP Assembly.
“I could have suspended them straight away and through the NWFP Assembly but I decided to give them an opportunity to defend themselves.”
He said he had discussed the issue with Governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah last week before bringing it to the NWFP Assembly. “There was no justification for the Nazims to resign.”
Mr Durrani went on to say that he had severely reprimanded Jamaat-i-Islami MNA Sabir Awan for organizing and leading a mob to tear down billboards that depicted images of female models. “God knows how much that (incident) upset me. And God knows how much severely I had reproached him.”
He said the police had been directed to register a case against those involved in breaking the billboards and action would be taken against them soon.
Calling the replacement of the chief secretary and police chief by the federal government as wholly unjustified and uncalled for, Mr Durrani insisted that the federal government would have to consult him before posting any officer to the NWFP. “I was fully satisfied with their performance and there was no reason for them to be posted out. I have asked the federal government to find them suitable positions instead of making them OSDs (officers on special duty).”