KARACHI: President General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan declared here yesterday [Sept 18] that the National Assembly will be allowed to amend the constitution being prepared ... subject to his assent in the interest of the country`s ideology, territorial integrity and solidarity of the nation.

The amendment will have to be passed by the House by a simple majority which, he stressed, must include a consensus of all the federating units. In a statement broadcast by Radio Pakistan ... the President said that the object of the Constitution-making procedure ... was to afford the elected representatives of the people an opportunity to make improvements in the Constitution.

President Yahya said the Constitution would ...

be given its final shape after the Assembly had had an opportunity to discuss and debate fully and thoroughly the Constitution.... Staff correspondent [The staff correspondent adds from Karachi,] Mr. Z.A. Bhutto and Mr. Nurul Amin yesterday [Sept 18] had separate meetings with President Yahya Khan at the President`s House here. The Pukhtoon NAP chief and MPA-elect from Baluchistan Khan Abdus Samad Khan Achakzai also had a meeting with the President.