August 22, 2003	Friday	Jumadi-us-Sani 23, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 21: The house business advisory committee of the National Assembly on Thursday failed to evolve a consensus on bringing a joint agenda for the current session in order to run the house smoothly.

The committee, which met with NA Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain in the chair at the parliament house, decided to hold another meeting on Monday when the combined opposition would present its agenda and an effort would be made to accommodate it.

The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) had prepared a seven-point agenda when it decided to requisition the NA but the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy parliamentary party remained undecided whether it should join with the MMA or put up its own set of proposals, inside sources told Dawn.

Earlier, the MMA leaders Liaqat Baloch and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed met the parliamentary leader of ARD’s parliamentary group Makhdoom Javed Hashmi at the latter’s residence before going into the HBAC meeting.

Both sides agreed on bringing a joint agenda but it could not take a concrete shape, Mr Hashmi told Dawn.

Speaker Amir Hussain said on the occasion that the issues and legislations pertaining to public welfare and public concern should be the joint agenda of the treasury and opposition benches in the current NA session.

Earlier, the treasury side, in the first HBAC meeting on Wednesday, offered to the opposition that its agenda will be accommodated during the current session if it agreed to run the house smoothly.

Begum Tehmina Daultana, PML-N’s vice-president who represented her party in the committee, told Dawn that the ARD component parties will discuss the possibility of giving a joint agenda along with the MMA on Friday.

She said that although the parties in their respective meetings had discussed such a proposition they were still to consult collectively on the ARD’s platform.

According to an official handout, the committee held detailed discussions on evolving a joint agenda for the current National Assembly session. The representatives of the parliamentary parties in the NA agreed that congenial environment must be maintained in the house in order to run the business smoothly.

However, it was decided that the representatives would consult their respective parliamentary parties and come up with suggestions and recommendations in a meeting to be held on Monday.

Those who attended the meeting were: Labour Minister Abdul Sattar Laleka, Minister of State for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Muhammad Raza Hayat Hiraj, Deputy Speaker Sardar Muhammad Yaqub, MMA’s Liaqat Baloch and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, PPP’s Syed Naveed Qamar and Syed Khurshid Shah, MQM’s Kunwar Khalid Younis, NA’s Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Fata’s Syed Ghazi Gulab Jamal, PML-N’s Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Begum Tehmina Daultana, and PML-Q’s Mrs Mehnaz Rafi, Sardar Nasrullah Khan Dareshak and Zahid Hamid Khan.