November 15, 2002	Friday	Ramazan 9, 1423

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ISLAMABAD Nov 14: All is set for the oath-taking session of the members of the National Assembly elected on Oct 10 as summoned by President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday Nov 16.

The session, which was postponed for a week on politicians demand, was again summoned when the scramble between the three major groups is not over yet.

The taking of oath by some 269 male and 72 female MNAs will set the ball rolling to usher in democracy after three years of military rule.

One special feature of the house will be a sizable number of bearded persons aged between 28 to 70 years.

Also, it will have 60 per cent new faces with a large number of heavyweights having been eliminated due to the graduation condition, or the anti-America wave.

An official notification issued by the public relations directorate of National Assembly secretariat said: “The president of Islamic Republic of Pakistan hereby summons the National Assembly to meet in the Parliament Building, Islamabad at 11am on Nov 16, 2002, for administering oath to the individuals elected as members of the National Assembly, to elect the Speaker and Deputy Speaker and for administering oath to them immediately, where after, the Assembly shall be prorogued”.

Although there was no official mention of the dates for the election of speaker, it is presumed that the second session for the election of the speaker and deputy speaker will be held on Monday, Nov 18, which will be followed by a day’s gap and then the difficult task of all, the prime minister’s election.