ISLAMABAD, April 4: Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Sunday that the National Assembly will hold a debate on the NSC bill provided the opposition participated in its proceedings.

"At this stage, no one can predict whether the opposition joins the proceedings of the house on Monday or not," he said while talking to reporters after presiding over a prize distribution ceremony of Annual Spring Flower Show-2004 here.

He said if the opposition came to the house and opposed the bill then a debate on its first and second reading would be carried out according to the Constitution.

Replying to another question about the proposals from the opposition on the NSC bill, he said they had not yet presented any such proposals formally. "In politics, the doors for dialogue are always open," he said.

Sheikh Rashid said the NSC bill "has been presented as an act of parliament" in accordance with the wishes of MMA which had aspired to exclude this clause from the 17th amendment and the same might be presented as an act of parliament separately. -APP