|
|
| 12 February 2004 | Thursday | 20 Zilhaj 1424 |
Plan to requisition NA session unlikely to succeed
ISLAMABAD, Feb 11: The Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) plan to requisition the National Assembly session is not likely to succeed as it is reluctant to seek the support of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) in this regard, sources told Dawn here on Wednesday.
The sources said after the MMA-ARD joint opposition broke up following the passage of the 17th Amendment the two major opposition alliances were finding themselves unable to requisition the National Assembly session on their own as none of the two had enough number of votes on its side to make a successful bid for the requisition.
At present, the ARD has 78 members in the National Assembly and claims to have the support of three members belonging to other parties. On the other hand, the MMA has 68 members in the 342-member lower house. According to the Constitution, at least 86 members are required to sign the notice for requisitioning the National Assembly session.
Article 54(3) of the 1973 Constitution says: "On a requisition signed by not less than one-fourth of the total membership of the National Assembly, the Speaker shall summon the National Assembly to meet, at such time and place as he thinks fit, within 14 days of the receipt of the requisition."
The acting parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, announced at a news conference here on Saturday that the ARD would requisition the National Assembly session to discuss the ongoing investigation of nuclear scientists.
On the other hand, ARD Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, in an interview to a news agency, said the alliance would not seek MMA's support for requisitioning of the assembly.
The sources said there were differences within the PPP and the PML-N over the issue as the latter wanted to get MMA's support and the former was opposing the idea.
The PML-N leadership, they said, was persuading the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) that nuclear issue was a sensitive matter and in the greater national interest the ARD should seek the MMA cooperation only on the minimum agenda of requisitioning the session.
The sources said the PPP leaders wanted to postpone the matter for the time being as they wanted to discuss it directly with party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto in the party's CEC meeting in London on Feb 20.
The sources said Ms Bhutto had directed the local leadership not to cooperate with the MMA inside and outside parliament on any matter after the religious alliance's "deal" with the government on the Legal Framework Order. They said in the recently-held meeting of the ARD in Lahore, almost all members of the alliance severely criticized the MMA and opposed any idea of future cooperation with them.
A senior ARD office-bearer, when contacted, told Dawn that there was a very slim chance that the opposition would requisition the NA session. He said there was no possibility that the government would call the session before 10th of Muharram even if the opposition submitted the requisition notice as the Speaker could take advantage of the law which provided him a 14-day time to summon the session.
He said the government was reluctant to call the session as it did not want a debate on the nuclear proliferation issue. There was a very remote possibility that the MMA and the ARD would join hands again, he added.
|
|