Sources said the meeting lasted for more than nine hours, in which current political situation, controversial memo issue, proposal of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) in relation to new terms of engagement with the US and Nato and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's statements about the army chief and the DG ISI were discussed at length. All the commanders were taken on board on the prevailing military-civilian relations in the meeting, sources added.
---- Commanders hold marathon meeting over situation
---- Coalition resolves to avoid confrontation with
---- judiciary, tables pro-democratic system resolution in National Assembly
However, no official statement was issued about what discussed at the meeting. The meeting was held hours before lawmakers gathered for an urgent session of the National Assembly convened by the government to discuss the options spelled out by Supreme Court in the non-implementation of NRO verdict case and its strong disapproval of President Asif Ali Zardari's and Prime Minister Gilani's role in relation to non-implementation of SC verdicts by the government.
Meanwhile, the government is now firmly convinced that it should not go into a confrontational mode against judiciary after the apex court gave it a six-day deadline to implement the apex court's verdict on NRO. The coalition partners, Awami National Party (ANP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), the sources said, asked the government not to go for a head-on collision with the judiciary and advised it to show magnanimity at this stage.
The sources said the allied parties underscored the need for avoiding any use of provocative remarks against any state institution. ANP chief Asfandyar Wali and others asked the premier to recall that both army and judiciary had consistently expressed their support to democracy.
"Both the judiciary and the army have undoubtedly been gracious enough to let the executive off the hook as an imminent clash between the two state institutions could have led to harmful consequences...so my advise will be not to take the confrontational course with state institutions," Asfandyar Wali was quoted as telling the PM. The clash between the executive and the judiciary has raised the political temperature. Under the constitution, once the court passes an order, it becomes a legal binding on both the executive and the judicial functionaries to abide by it.
There were reports that the government had decided not to act upon the SC orders regarding the NRO, which might have made matters worse. However, back channel negotiations were activated through which ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan, PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar played an important role by successfully persuading the government to show restrain for the survival of the present dispensation.
Later, all the coalition partners in the PPP-led government have decided to present a resolution in the ongoing session of the National Assembly for strengthening democratic system in the country, it is learnt. According to sources, the decision was taken in a meeting of parliamentary parties of PPP-led coalition at the Parliament House on Thursday. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. The PPP and its allies are expected to present this resolution today (Friday).
The sources said that Parliamentary parties of coalition partners asked the PPP not to present resolution reposing confidence in the Prime Minister and the President for such a move would only deepen the confrontation among the state institutions. The parliamentary parties' leaders proposed to the PPP to present a resolution in the ongoing session of the National Assembly in favour of supremacy of the parliament or strengthening of democratic system in the country.
The sources said the PPP agreed with its coalition partners to present such a resolution in the ongoing session of the Lower House of the Parliament. After the meeting, former Information Minister Qmar Zaman Kaira told the parliamentary reporters that the government did not want any confrontation among the institutions. Answering a question, he said there was no need for a resolution pertaining to a vote of confidence on the Leader of the House - the Prime Minister.