Federal Law Minister Farooq H Naek on Sunday briefed President Asif Ali Zardari on legal aspects of the proposed Bahawalpur Janoobi Punjab (BJP) province and the legal vetting of the bill which is likely to be tabled before the National Assembly on Tuesday (tomorrow).

Earlier, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf also had a detailed meeting with President Zardari and discussed a host of issues, including the government’s strategy on the new province, talks with Minhajul Quran Chief Tahirul Qadri and progress on the caretaker setup at federal level, sources in the ruling PPP revealed. Later, Prime Minister Ashraf flew to Karachi where he held important meetings with the Sindh governor and the chief minister. Sources in the party revealed Farooq Naek was scheduled to join the government delegation to hold talks with Tahirul Qadri at the Minhajul Quran head office in Lahore, but he was called by President Asif Ali Zardari for consultation on important constitutional matters.Sources, aware of Zardari-Naek deliberations,

told The Nation that the law minister briefed the president on the possible fallouts of the proposed bill to be tabled before the National Assembly for the creation of the new province comprising the South Punjab districts.The expected opposition of the bill from the PML-N and the MPs from Bahawalpur division, who wanted to see the restoration of the old Bahawalpur Province, was also discussed. The government strategy to tackle these hurdles in the way of the smooth passage of the bill from the National Assembly came under discussion.Sources in the coalition government said the PPP just wanted to get the bill passed from the National Assembly and despatch it to the Punjab Assembly, primarily to put the PML-N under pressure and make it an election issue for the party to grab maximum seats from South Punjab.

The sources further said President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Federal Law Minister Farooq H Naek were on the same page that the proposed bill must be tabled in the National Assembly. Most probably, it would be tabled on Tuesday.The formation of caretaker setups at federal level and in the provinces was another important issue which came under threadbare discussion. The wavering of PML-N on the dissolution of the National and provincial assemblies on the same day was also discussed.

The law minister suggested that an amendment to the Constitution should be made to make the federal and provincial governments bound to dissolve their respective assemblies on the same day so that elections to the national and provincial assemblies in the country could be held on the same day.The sources further disclosed that Zardari had asked Prime Minister Ashraf to contact Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Ch Nisar for finalising name of the caretaker prime minister and other modalities to hold the elections in a free, fair and transparent fashion.They added the ruling coalition had already completed its homework for a few names for the caretaker prime minister and was having a word with Tahirul Qadri on these names to shortlist two of them, while the formal process of consultation would be held with the leader of the opposition.