Islamabad: Pakistan's new government is finalising a constitutional amendment bill to ensure the balance of power between the President and the Prime Minister, Law Minister Farooq Naek said today.

The law ministry is preparing the draft of the bill that is aimed at curbing President Pervez Musharraf's sweeping powers, including the power to dissolve the parliament and to dismiss the elected Prime Minister and his government, officials said.

Naek indicated that the proposed amendment bill will address presidential powers that were inserted in the sixth and seventh schedules of the Constitution through controversial amendments made by Musharraf after he assumed power in 1999.

The sixth schedule contains several laws that cannot be altered or repealed without the assent of the President, including the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance.

Though Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani had announced in parliament that the NAB would be abolished, the government has not been able to make headway in this matter as it cannot take any step without Musharraf's concurrence.

Speaking to reporters here this morning, the Law Minister said, "As far as the constitutional amendments are concerned, we have got to (ensure) the balance of power between the President and the prime minister.

"And we have got to see the sixth schedule (of the Constitution) which gives the power to the President not to let any amendment be made in the constitution with regard to the laws."

Source : IANS