ISLAMABAD, Aug 20: In what appears to be a last ditch effort to save the system, the government is said to have decided to take the LFO to parliament on its own and have it approved by two-thirds majority.

According to informed circles, it has been finally realized by the top decision makers in the government that the present constitutional status of the LFO had made the task of facilitating the transition from military to civilian rule almost impossible.

Therefore, it has been decided to follow the constitutional path and ‘proactively’ try to get the LFO approved by parliament.

Those who support this approach seem convinced that it would not be too difficult to wean away about 34-35 members from the opposition benches to collect 228 votes needed to get the LFO- related constitutional ‘amendments’ passed in the NA. The gap to be bridged in the senate for the ruling alliance is even less — about 12-13 votes.

As a first step, under the new proactive strategy, all the PML factions inside the ruling alliance have been asked to merge with the PML-Q. On the other hand, the PPP Patriots, PPP (Sherpao group) and Millat Party have been advised to combine into one single party. Similarly, all the other smaller parties in the alliance are being given the choice to join one or the other of the two groups — the PML-Q or the combine of breakaway PPP factions.

The government circles believe that with only two groups to manage, the ruling alliance would become more coherent and effective and also politically more attractive for the fence sitters in the ARD. The target is the ARD and not the MMA.

The government still has a number of lucrative cabinet portfolios and other cushy jobs to offer to those from across the fence to jump over.

Meanwhile, it has been decided to stop all on going efforts to try to woo the MMA as the conditions put forward by the religious alliance for cooperation in parliament for getting the LFO approved were said to have been totally unacceptable to the government.

The government is not ready to change even a comma or a full stop in the LFO what to talk of diluting the 58(2) (b) or the powers of the NSC, said an insider. Therefore, according to him, negotiations with the MMA could not be continued any further.

This, he said, had became even more obvious on Monday during the four-hour interaction between the president and about 40 parliamentarians of the ruling alliance.

Both Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali and president of the PML-Q Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain are said to have thrown in the towel vis-a-vis their negotiations gone with the MMA.

The prime minister on his part is said to have complained that the president by not addressing the joint session had himself sounded the death knell of the new parliament.

In his opinion the president being a part of parliament was constitutionally and morally obliged to address the joint session and since this did not happen, his (PM’s) ability to negotiate with the MMA was seriously eroded.

The PM is also said to have complained that nobody in his cabinet listened to him and that he did not know whose orders they were following. This again, he said, undermined his position during the negotiations.

Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain reportedly did not speak at all during the interaction but when his younger brother Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain asked the president to come forward and play his role, some of those who were present said, it sounded as if the PML-Q president was telling President Musharraf that he (Chaudhry) had given up trying and it was now up to the president himself to lead the new political offensive to save the system from being wrecked by the opposition.

The president on his part is said to have reiterated that on the issue of LFO and the uniform there was no question of him showing any more flexibility.

And on the issue of government-MMA talks, he reportedly felt that he on his part he had given Mr Jamali and Mr Chaudhry full support and freedom and if the deadlock could not be broken he was in no way responsible for the failure.

By the close of the interaction, the acrimony on this issue is said to have become so unbearable that the president reportedly left for his office rather abruptly without taking tea with his guests and the PM was seen taking his, all alone in a corner.

Circles close to the president reportedly were not amused by the position taken by the PM on the matter of government-MMA talks and they are said to have expressed the fear that Mr Jamali was trying to distance himself from the government, thinking perhaps that the system was about to be rolled up.

Most of what the president told the parliamentarians during his Monday talk with them related to the outside image of Pakistan and the Ummah and the need for Muslims to shun extremism and adopt moderation.

Insiders said that it were not the parliamentarians whom he was addressing this message on but he was actually speaking to those within the establishment who they believe still needed to be persuaded to follow him on the U-turn.

Some of the parliamentarians who attended the Monday interaction remarked that they would be watching federal minister for Water and Power Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao rather closely from now on as according to them he was likely to be more visible on the government side during the new phase of political activity.