By IANS
Islamabad : The Pakistani government and the opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) have approved the National Reconciliation Ordinance.
Quoting sources, local newspaper Dawn reported Friday that President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the attorney general and the president’s negotiating team remained in conference with the aides of Benazir Bhutto till 3 a.m. and finalised the draft.
However, a large number of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) leaders are reported to be against the parameters laid down in the ordinance which would not only give indemnity to Bhutto but also to the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain, the newspaper said.
The final draft of ordinance has been sent to the federal cabinet for assent. After that, it will be sent to Musharraf for approval and promulgation.
The ordinance would allow the government to grant amnesty to all those who had held public offices between 1988 and 1999 and against whom corruption cases were pending.
However, the PPP said that some of its demands were not met in the ordinance and the draft of the ordinance was exchanged several times between the government and the PPP, which made some changes to the draft and sent it back to the government Thursday.
Bhutto Thursday said that the PPP legislators would not resign if the party reached an understanding with the government.
Bhutto threatened to pull out the PPP lawmakers from parliament and provincial assemblies if her demands were not met. Some 163 opposition legislators resigned Tuesday to oppose Musharraf’s re-election.