December 28, 2002	Saturday	Shawwal 23, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 27: The National Assembly session, convened for seeking trust vote for Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, will last only for a day, apparently to deny the opposition an opportunity to raise embarrassing issues like the arrests made by the American FBI.

“The session will have only one-point agenda but we will agitate the issue through points of order,” Deputy Secretary General of Jamaat-i-Islami and an MNA of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Farid Ahmed Paracha, told Dawn.

A notice of an adjournment motion regarding arrests of Khawaja Ahmed Javeed and eight other members of his family has already been submitted to the National Assembly secretariat.

Mr Paracha said they had learnt that the session would last only for a day and would have only a one-point agenda.

The ascertainment of the Leader of Opposition is also expected to be carried out by the house on Sunday (Dec 30), as without this, the house would not be complete.

The People’s Party Parliamentarian is confident that they would get the coveted slot of the Leader of Opposition, which entails a number of perks and privileges.

The ten PPP members who had voted for Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali are still on the strength of the party as they had returned to the National Assembly on the symbol of PPP, office secretary of PPP parliamentary party, Izhar Amrohi, said.

Mr Amrohi said the PPP had a strength of 80 members and, being the second largest party in the house, they should get the slot of the Leader of Opposition.

The Pakistan Muslim League-N, which has a strength of 19 members, has already committed at the platform of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, to support Makhdoom Amin Fahim in his election as the Leader of Opposition.

He recalled that in the previous assembly, PPP strength was only 17. Of these, two had switched their loyalties to the ruling party. Even then, Benazir Bhutto had been elected the Leader of Opposition.

The PPP has also submitted a privilege motion on the remarks of Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain regarding the Legal Framework Order, he added.

Chaudhry Amir Hussain had reportedly said at a press conference that the Legal Framework Order was part of the Constitution.