ISLAMABAD, 22 May 2008 — President Pervez Musharraf has no plans to step down, retired Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi, president’s media adviser, told Arab News yesterday.

He was commenting on a story carried by The News daily that said President Musharraf planned to step down conditionally.

“This story is totally baseless and malicious. I denied the story last night but still The News and its TV channel Geo kept repeating it,” Qureshi said.

Qureshi said the PPP-led coalition intends to bring some constitutional reforms, which will be examined by Attorney General Malik Qayyum on behalf of the president. So far, the presidency has not received any constitutional proposal from the Law Ministry, which the government claims to have prepared, Qureshi said.

Qureshi asked if the freedom of the press meant running stories without checking facts.

He said President Musharraf was comfortably working with the parties that have formed the government. He even administered oath to the PML (N) ministers who wore black armbands, Qureshi said.

He said the president would respect any fresh legislation or constitutional amendment but so far he had had no meeting with the law minister or any leader of the government.

Meanwhile, Information Secretary of Pakistan People’s Party, Punjab, Farzana Raja told Arab News the Law Ministry has prepared a draft constitutional package (18th Constitutional Amendment) that is being examined by the PPP leadership, Pakistan Muslim League (N), Awami National Party and other allied parties before the government tables it in the Parliament.

The law minister said the ruling party aims to push a set of constitutional changes through Parliament in coming weeks to clip the president’s powers to dismiss the government.

“We have proposed repeal of the 58-2 (b) to maintain balance of power between the president and prime minister,” Farooq H. Naek told Reuters, referring to the clause that gives the president the right to dismiss a government.

Naek said Zardari would consult his own party and allies, including Sharif, before the package is put before Parliament. The minister said he expected the package to be presented before the annual budget session, due next month.

The thrust of the changes will be to give the elected prime minister more power, and make the judiciary more independent. The ruling coalition is currently short of the two-thirds majority it needs in the two-chamber Parliament to pass a constitutional amendment.

Analysts believed the government could muster support from smaller parties to push through the package, but it had to overcome strains within its own ranks before presenting the bill.

“I think a lot of politicking will be done to create a consensus before this package is presented in the Parliament.

“The government may face difficulties in evolving a consensus on it,” said Hasan Askari Rizvi, professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington.

— With input from agencies