LAHORE, April 27: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali has expressed the hope that the controversy on the Legal Framework Order will be resolved as both the government and the opposition parties have shown flexibility in the ongoing talks.
Answering reporters’ questions after inaugurating a television factory at Manga, some 35km from here on Sunday, he said the first round of talks had been very encouraging and the government also wanted to make the Monday round productive. “We want to bring an end to the deadlock (on the LFO). We want to take the opposition parties along.”
The prime minister said the government would listen to the opposition’s point of view with an open mind. The ruling party, he said, had been tolerant in its attitude for the past six months and it would remain so in the times to come as tolerance was needed most by the country and the nation.
The prime minister expressed the hope that the ongoing talks with the opposition parties would yield positive results.
He said the government was holding dialogues sincerely and it was determined that the democratic process continued in Pakistan.
He did not agree with a suggestion that the failure of the Monday talks could lead to a deadlock. The government wanted the deadlock to come to an end. The ruling party, he said, also wanted the democratic process to continue.
Replying to a question about the changing statements of Indian leaders on the possibility of talks with Pakistan on the Kashmir issue, the prime minister said Islamabad had always expressed its willingness to hold parleys with New Delhi. He said Pakistan’s response to talks offer had always been positive.
Mr Jamali said the situation about the resumption of a dialogue between the two neighbours would crystallize during the next few days.
POSITIVE SIGNALS: The second and the decisive round of government-opposition talks will be held on Monday with positive signals coming from both sides, Ahemd Hassan adds from Islamabad.
Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali will lead the government team which has been strengthened with the inclusion of representatives of remaining component parties of the ruling alliance.
Similarly, on the request of the combined opposition the prime minister has extended invitation to the leaders of all those smaller opposition parties who were not invited in the first round.
Both sides have expressed optimism over the outcome of the talks as the prime minister said in Lahore that the government side would show maximum flexibility in the next round, and the MMA leaders Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Allama Sajid Naqvi also expressed similar sentiments.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly will also resume its session on Monday afternoon after a two-day recess and it is expected that Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain will adjourn the house after a brief sitting so that the atmosphere of congeniality which was witnessed on Friday is maintained during the Monday talks.
Sources said the combined opposition might also meet the president in case they agreed on a mechanism to resolve the crisis.
Talking to Dawn, MMA secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rahman said the decision to show flexibility on all issues during the talks had been taken under democratic principles. He, however, made it clear that a president in uniform would be a clear deviation from the democratic principles.
Allama Sajid Naqvi, vice-president of the MMA, told Dawn that if an invitation for meeting came from the President House the combined opposition would certainly consider.
He said the main thrust of the talks was on restoring supremacy of parliament.
Allama Naqvi said the prime minister had invited leaders of the smaller parliamentary groups, including Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf chief Imran Khan, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party’s Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Balochistan National Party’s Rauf Mengal and Jamhoori Watan Party’s Haider Bugti on opposition’s request.