ISLAMABAD, Aug 7: The night-long talks between the MMA and the president’s negotiating team were concluded on a positive note early Thursday morning as the MMA chief appeared hopeful of an outcome within a week’s time.
Both sides were said to be firm on their respective stand on the contentious issues — the uniform, procedure and tenure of fresh election of the president, the National Security Council and the provisions under 58(2)(B), the sources told Dawn.
Prime Minister’s adviser Mr Sharifuddin Pirzada, who also attended the talks, presented a number of suggestions for making suitable amendments to the Constitution through his draft constitutional package.
The next round of government-MMA party heads’ meeting has further been delayed until next week for giving final touches to what was termed a “half-prepared package.”
The talks, which started between Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani-led MMA team and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali-led president’s team on Wednesday evening, continued till Thursday morning, the sources said.
Maulana Noorani told Dawn that both sides put up their respective positions in the intensive deliberations, and that he was hopeful that a way will be found to break the impasse.
He said: “It was not an easy job to amend the Constitution, and it will take some more time to be tackled.” When asked how much time, he quipped: “May be a week, or so”.
The other MMA leaders who participated in the talks — the alliance’s parliamentary leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed, secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Liaqat Baloch — left the federal capital for Lahore, Dera Ismail Khan and Sargodha, respectively, on Thursday and will be back in Islamabad on Saturday, Maulana Noorani said.
The MMA supreme council, he said, will hold its meeting to further discuss the political issues, including its Aug 14 rally at Liaqat Baloch on Saturday.
Asked if he saw any light at the end of the tunnel after last night’s deliberations, Maulana Noorani replied in the affirmative. “I am hopeful that there will be an outcome of our hard work after all.”
The MMA chief, however, refrained from giving any details of the marathon meeting which, he said, was attended by “most responsible” people, adding: “We in the MMA have decided not to reveal anything to the press till a concrete solution to issues is found.”
He said: “We have articulated our view while the government side presented its own on issues that are to be sorted out at the government level before a date for the next round of regular talks is fixed.”
Liaqat Baloch, another participant of the meeting, said: “No concrete thing has come out of the lengthy talks as both sides stuck to their respective stated positions”.
He added: “From our side, Aug 14 was the deadline for giving a final shape to any constitutional package after which we will be free to tell the people about everything which had been discussed and on which the official team had agreed.”
He termed the night-long parleys with the president’s team “informal”. The government side told the MMA team that the draft constitutional package still needed some changes, he said.
He said the next round of talks was possible on Sunday or afterwards but no definite time and date had been given in this respect.
Responding to a query, the MMA leader said the alliance leaders will definitely talk about its positions in the talks when they will speak at the Liaqat Bagh rally on Aug 14.