ISLAMABAD, July 31: The second round of talks between the government and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal is likely to be held on Sunday (Aug 3), sources close to MMA told Dawn on Thursday.
The prime minister, who is scheduled to leave for Saudi Arabia on Thursday next, wanted that some sort of breakthrough was achieved before his departure, the sources said.
Meanwhile, hectic activities were continuing in the relevant official quarters to give the proposed constitutional package a final shape after Premier Jamali and PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain completed their consultations with President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday.
MMA Deputy parliamentary leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said that the proposed draft formula prepared by the government’s constitutional experts would be discussed in the next government-MMA meeting and it might take more than one round of talks before an agreed packaged was finalized by the two parties.
According to an understanding reached between MMA and government teams a draft of agreed points of the Legal Framework Order (LFO) would be prepared by the government which would become a constitutional package to be discussed in the next round of talks.
The PML-Q leadership, after discussions with the President, has floated an idea that a meeting between the President and the MMA top leadership should be arranged to discuss controversial issues.
The PML-Q leaders say that the president is likely to convene such a meeting even before the second round of talks between the government and MMA teams.
Meanwhile, President’s top aide and the Secretary of the proposed National Security Council, Mr Tariq Aziz, on Wednesday met an MMA team led by Liaquat Baloch in Islamabad and discussed various aspects of the deal which could be struck in the next few days.
The government is also considering a formula to be presented to the MMA in the next meeting for joining the Jamali government in case a comprehensive agreement is reached between the two.
The MMA leadership has so far insisted that it will not join the government even if it comes to some kind of an understanding with the government on the LFO and the President’s uniform.
The MMA, through its Secretary-General Maulana Fazlur Rehman, is in constant touch with non-political representatives of the President for quite some time, a process which was called as a Track-2 diplomacy by the MMA leader on Monday.