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Published 08 Mar, 2003 12:00am

Jamali to discuss LFO with Musharraf

ISLAMABAD, March 7: Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali has assured members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q that he will talk to President Pervez Musharraf for the resolution of the crisis on the Legal Framework Order, PML-Q sources told Dawn on Friday.

The sources said that the PML-Q parliamentarians were divided over the issue of the LFO as some of the PML-Q leaders have expressed their support, while some others are of the opinion that the document should be sent to parliament for approval.

The sources said the prime minister had recently convened a PML-Q meeting in which he assured party members that he would discuss the issue with the president and ask him to find the best possible way to overcome the problem.

The prime minister was informed that some party leaders wanted the problem to be resolved through parliament, the sources said.

The sources said the government was likely to make some amendments to the Constitution to remove the controversial parts of the LFO.

The opposition parties are particularly opposing those LFO clauses that empower Gen Musharraf to stay as army chief for five more years, form an overseeing National Security Council, and the powers to dissolve the National Assembly and sack the prime minister.

The sources said the government was reviewing all demands of the opposition and would try to convince President Musharraf to agree to a compromise.

Some opposition parties felt that the NSC should not be made a supreme body over parliament and if its formation was that much necessary then it should only deal with national defence and security.

Some opposition parties told the government that Gen Musharraf should not occupy the offices of the president and the Chief of the Army Staff at the same time and if he chose to stay as president then he must got himself elected by parliament and the provincial assemblies, the sources said.

They said the government had realized that the opposition would not allow a smooth sailing to the government in parliament unless its demands were met.

However, a PML-Q spokesman Azeem Chaudhry said he was unaware of any meeting of party leaders with the prime minister during the last two days.

Talking to Dawn, he also denied any rift within the party over the LFO. Meanwhile, a leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Kunwar Khalid Younus told reporters in the National Assembly that the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal was divided over the LFO issue.

He said in a bid to pressure the government, the Jamaat-i-Islami had launched an attack after the arrest of JI activists for allegedly harbouring Al Qaeda activists.

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