rediff.com: Musharraf ready to compromise with MMA

After a month-long impasse over government formation in Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf has expressed readiness to compromise on his controversial constitutional amendments to enable the pro-military Pakistan Muslim League, Quaid-e-Azam, to reach an agreement with the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an alliance of six hardline religious parties.

"The president is not rigid on the issue," a close aide of General Musharraf said on condition of anonymity. "We can compromise on the issue to end the present political deadlock in the interests of the people."

The aide said Musharraf is ready to compromise on Legal Framework Order, which gives him and the army extraordinary powers. Besides the amendments, the LFO, promulgated by Musharraf before the October 10 general elections, also legalized his controversial election for five years through referendum.

The comments of Musharraf's aide followed claims of progress on the talks to form a government by leaders of the PML-Q and the MMA. Serious talks began between the parties as senior MMA leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad met Musharraf on Monday and told him that a breakthrough was not possible till the president quit his post as army chief and followed regular election procedures.

Hussain said he had been holding extensive talks with senior government authorities to reach mutually acceptable terms for the formation of a new government soon. "I think we have achieved our objective," he said.

On being asked who the next prime minister would be, Hussain said matters pertaining to the LFO had received more attention than the leadership. "We are heading towards a consensus and this is how we can serve our country better," he said.

According to PML-Q and MMA leaders, the details will be finalized in a day or two so that the National Assembly session could be summoned by early next week.

Meanwhile, four serving ministers of Musharraf's Cabinet and two provincial ministers have been nominated by the PML-Q to contest the election to the senate. Official media reports said Finance Minister Shoukat Aziz, Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider, former Inter Services Intelligence chief Javed Ashraf Qazi, who is now the railway minister, and Law Minister Khalid Ranjha have been allotted tickets and are certain to win.

Rana Ijaz Ahmad and Roshan Khurshid, provincial ministers from Punjab and Balochistan, respectively, have also been nominated for the senate elections.

These nominations are significant, as Gen Musharraf had made their inclusion a pre-condition for any compromise, saying that they were important to continue the reforms initiated by him.

Topping the list was Aziz, a former Citibank executive who has close relations with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.


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