proposed constitutional amendment bill, official sources said.
The decision was conveyed to Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal earlier on Saturday morning and latter endorsed at the late night meeting between government and the MMA negotiating teams in which a copy of final draft of the constitutional package was also discussed and handed over to the religio-political alliance, sources asserted.
The meeting between the two teams was continuing till filing of this report. When asked about the venue of meeting Liaquat Baloch of the MMA quipped, “Under the sky and on the earth in Islamabad as the MMA was kept in dark till start of the meeting.”
The government negotiating team comprised Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Senator S.M.Zafar, Tariq Aziz and others and the MMA was represented by Liaquat Baloch and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed.
The government also requested the MMA to help pass the proposed amendment bill by end of this month and before (Jan 4) scheduled start of Saarc summit conference.
Both the government and the MMA have reached a consensus on almost all the contentious issues, except over the issue of extension in the retirement age of superior court judges and the official team sought another day to come back with a fresh direction to resolve this issue also.
Nonetheless, they are likely to get together in the next 48 hours to put their signatures on the agreed draft package before its presentation in the shape of a bill in the National Assembly.
Earlier in the morning, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had telephonic conversation with MMA’s deputy parliamentary leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed to ask him about the availability of alliance’s acting chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Secretary-General Maulana Fazlur Rahman to be present at the agreement signing ceremony.
Hafiz Hussain Ahmed assured Chaudhry Shujaat that the two leaders who were busy in the protest movement in Punjab would most likely reach the federal capital on Sunday afternoon and be available in the evening.
Meanwhile, the MMA negotiating team has apprised the top alliance leaders Qazi Hussain and Maulana Fazl about the consensus created on the constitutional issues in their two-day talks with the government team, except for the judges subject.
Meanwhile, Mr Ahmed also held meetings with some opposition leaders, including senator Sanaullah Baloch of Balochistan National Party and briefed them about what was agreed upon with the government.
Talking to Dawn Hafiz Hussain said Chaudhry Shujaat had expressed his eagerness for an early conclusion of talks so that the proposed draft constitutional package was signed by the two sides as an agreement before being passed by the National Assembly, hopefully before the start of Saarc summit.
The MMA leader, however, made it clear to the PML chief that the alliance would not allow the government to bulldoze the bill and would like a fully fledged debate on it before its passage in the lower house.
Chaudhry Shujaat assured Hafiz Ahmed that the NA session would be convened on Friday and all arrangements had been made in this regard.
CONTENTIOUS ISSUE: Late Friday night, Senator S.M.Zafar had a meeting with the two-member MMA team in which both sides reiterated their stated positions on the LFO.
The MMA team told the government representatives that the alliance would not present the bill on its own but would only consider taking it up jointly with the government if it was prepared strictly on the lines of Sept 6 agreement.
They, however, failed to reach a consensus on the issue of superior courts judges’ retirement age and Senator Zafar promised to come back with a positive response on Saturday evening.
Hafiz Hussain said the MMA side was not prepared in any way to accept extension in retirement age of judges beyond one year which was agreed upon between the two sides in Lahore talks.
He said the MMA had agreed to one year extension only on the persistent demand of the government, knowing very well that the lawyers community would feel extremely disappointed with the alliance for giving in to this demand of the government.