Islamabad, July 27: Hardening their stand, Pakistan opposition parties have asked President Pervez Musharraf to appoint a full-time Army Chief and announce a schedule for presidential elections, even as they failed to reach a consensus on attending talks with the ruling coalition. Meanwhile, Musharraf has said he would not set any timeframe for giving up his post of Army Chief, but suggested that he was ready to show some "flexibility" on powers to dissolve Parliament if the opposition gave up the issue, a media report said today.


While the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) - comprising Pakistan People's Party and Pakistan Muslim League - decided to boycott the talks called today by Prime Minister Zaffarullah Khan Jamali, some parties are likely to attend, media reports said.
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six Islamic parties, said it would talk with the government only on the issue of the controversial amendments to the constitution made by Musharraf, known as Legal Framework Order (LFO).
The All Party Conference (APC) yesterday, attended by 28 opposition parties and representatives of Supreme Court and high court bar associations, adopted a 19-point Islamabad declaration calling for the restoration of the 1973 constitution, opposition to the LFO, Musharraf as president and sending Pakistani troops to Iraq, and commitment to independent of judiciary and press.
Reports said the statement by the chief of ruling PML-Q, Chaudhury Shujaat Hussein, that the question of Musharraf's giving up his army post would not be discussed at today's meeting, let to the ARD's boycott decision.
Meanwhile, lawyers who attended a convention in Quetta told the opposition leadership that any compromise on the LFO or the President's military post in today's meeting would oppose forces opposing the LFO and benefit Musharraf.
Bureau Report