ISLAMABAD, Aug 19: President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday summoned the National Assembly to meet from Wednesday apparently to fulfil a mandatory constitutional requirement while the ruling coalition partners appeared to be gearing up for a more “proactive” role during the assembly session.
A notification, issued by the National Assembly secretariat, said the session is to be convened at 6pm in the Parliament House.
The move came only a day after the president had a rare pep talk with members of the ruling coalition amid fears that Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali’s government could fail to meet a constitutional requirement to keep the National Assembly in session for a minimum of 130 days in a year.
Both of the opposition alliances have vowed not to relent in their protest against the Legal Framework Order but it was not clear how the parties grouped in the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal would coordinate their efforts in this regard. The two major political alliances had parted ways last month when the MMA had opted to hold separate talks with the government to resolve the LFO dispute.
Sources in the Parliament, however, doubted the possibility of the opposition ability to display a similar show of strength now as the rift between the two alliances remained unrepaired.
An official statement quoted both President Musharraf and Prime Minister Jamali telling participants of a meeting of the ruling coalition on Monday to be more “proactive.” Some of the sources viewed it to be a call for adopting a more aggressive approach by the Pakistan Muslim League-Q and its allies.
The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s bid to hold separate talks with the government were viewed by other political parties as a potential compromise on the LFO.
But the government-MMA talks were deadlocked earlier this month after the ruling coalition and the politico-religious alliance traded allegations and counter-allegations against each other.
The only comfort the government could derive out of the rift between the two opposition alliances was that neither of the alliance was able to muster enough strength to requisition a session of the assembly on its own.
The two sides are likely to press their claims for the position of the leader of opposition in the house during the session, parliamentary sources said.
Parliamentary groups of the two alliances will meet separately in the Parliament House’s committee rooms before the start of the assembly’s session to determine their strategy in this regard but there were hints they may also hold bilateral talk to evolve a joint strategy.
The National Assembly has met for only 47 days since its parliamentary year began on Nov 15. By Tuesday, it has been left with only 87 days out of which it has to meet for at least 83 days to fulfil the 130-day constitutional requirement. This remains a theoretical possibility, especially when a two-day weekend is also counted in calculating parliamentary working days.
But parliamentary sources wondered if it was possible to keep the assembly in session for nearly three months without any recess.
While there was no immediate official word about the planned legislative business and duration of what would be the 10th session of the National Assembly since the election of house last October.
Expressing the hope for a smooth session, National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain said he hoped the session would “continue for a long time.”
Speaking to reporters at a ceremony where Prime Minister Jamali gave away awards to the officials of the National Highways and Motorway Police, the speaker dismissed the suggestion if he could be besieged by protesting opposition members.
“I don’t think any such thing will happen, you rest assured,” said the speaker, who survived an opposition no-confidence move against him over LFO in June.
An ARD spokesman said main alliance parties — the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) — and their allies would continue to protest against the LFO when the assembly meets on Wednesday.
“There is no change (in the protest policy),” ARD’s parliamentary party secretary Izhar Amrohi told Dawn.
But he said “a new strategy” would be drawn up in the meeting of the ARD’s parliamentary party, which is scheduled to be held at 4pm, which would be preceded by the meeting of the PPP’s parliamentary party to be held at 2 p.m.
“Parties in the ARD will consult other political parties in the parliament about a joint strategy,” Mr Amrohi said in a statement.
The MMA said its parliamentary party would meet at 3pm.
An MMA statement said that the meeting would devise a strategy concerning the LFO and other issues.
