ISLAMABAD, May 19: A top leader of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal said on Monday the alliance of religious parties would give President Pervez Musharraf a four-month deadline to quit the Army, placing it at odds with other Opposition parties which were demanding the General to take off his uniform immediately to end a crippling parliamentary deadlock.

“We are ready to give a concession to President Musharraf that he can retain the office of the army chief until Aug 14, 2003,” MMA lawmaker Hafiz Hussain Ahmed told AFP.

The proposal will be presented to an 11-member committee of government and opposition representatives who have spent past three weeks trying to negotiate an agreement on controversial changes to Constitution.—AFP