ISLAMABAD, July 7: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Monday said the government was encouraged by President Pervez Musharraf’s statement expressing his willingness to discuss all the contentious issues, including the LFO, and hoped that talks with the opposition on the LFO would be successful.

Talking to journalists after the withdrawal of the no-trust resolution against the deputy speaker of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister also expressed the hope that the congenial atmosphere in the parliament would continue.

He said that if the opposition wanted to strengthen the office of the prime minister, they should try to strengthen the Parliament.

Mr Jamali said he would take the nation into confidence on the issues of national importance like issue of recognizing Israel, and sending troops to Iraq.

He said that he would invite heads of opposition parties after consulting with PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who is under treatment in a Paris hospital.

He said he would try to talk to him on phone and then he would invite the opposition parties. He said he had informed the opposition members that if provoked, he was prepared to deliver a very hard-hitting speech.

The prime minister declined to comment on Qazi Hussain’s statement that the opposition parties would stage a sit-in if their demands were not accepted, saying it could be the thinking of a single party.

He said that the opposition parties was free to do anything they wanted, but they should ensure that the Parliament’s sanctity was not violated.

The PM expressed the hope that the National Assembly would soon start legislating soon, saying that he expected everything to turn out fine.