By Asif Farooqi, IOL Correspondent

ISLAMABAD, November 5 (IslamOnline) - Pakistani politicians Tuesday, November 5, requested President General Pervez Musharraf to postpone the opening session of the National Assembly to another date to buy more time for consultations on the government formation.

With the first session of the Assembly just two to three days away, the political parties were still far away from reaching any agreement on forming a government. At least two of the major political forces would have to agree to form a government as no party won enough seats in the October 10 general elections to get its Prime Minister elected in the new Parliament.

First Parliament session in three years was supposed to end three years of military rule in the country following last month’s general elections which gave fractured mandate to various parties in the Parliament.

Pro-government PML(Q) came out as the largest party in the elections with 116 seats in the house of 342 and still short of support of 56 members. Other major players in the new parliament are PPPP with 91 seats and MMAP 68. All the three parties have their own agenda and a Prime Ministerial candidate. Despite three weeks of hectic consultations no group was able to woo another into supporting its candidate for the top slot in the government.

Both pro and anti government camps of the parties have been claiming over the last few days that they have gained support from 180 members of the house. But these claims could not be materialized.

The alliance of religious parties Tuesday once again failed to get support from the opposition alliance ARD for its candidate for the Prime Minister. Maulana Fazlur Rehamn of MMAP held day-long talks with ARD leadership. But failed to get its votes in the National Assembly to become Prime Minister. ARD support can help Rehman to secure a majority in the Parliament with its 110 votes in the Assembly. But PPPP leadership has expressed reservations on supporting a pro-Taliban cleric for the top government slot.

Now two major political parties and other smaller groups have requested the President to postpone the inaugural session of the Parliament to another day. The house was to meet on the 8th of this month and it was supposed to elect a Prime Minister in days.

However, Makhdoom Amind Fahim of opposition party PPPP and Chauhdary Shujaat of PML(Q), the top two parties in the National Assembly asked the President to announce a new date for the Parliamentary session. Other leaders also issued similar statements during the day, urging the President to give more time to the politicians to reach any conclusion on the government formation.