17 April 2004	Saturday	26 Safar 1425

ISLAMABAD, April 16: An unusual government apology for rushing through the National Security Council bill and behind-the-scene efforts calmed down an opposition uproar in the Senate on Friday before President Pervez Musharraf prorogued the upper house after an eight-day session.

But opposition parties said they planned to requisition another session to discuss perceived threats to the country's security. Opposition members burst into an uproar against the passage of the NSC bill by the ruling coalition during their walkout on Wednesday as the Senate met in the morning.

Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro took a peacemaker's role by adjourning the house for half an hour to let tempers cool down and asking representatives of the two sides to settle their differences in a meeting with him.

The move paid off. As the house resumed after the reconciliation recess, leader of the house Wasim Sajjad offered a public apology for Wednesday's conduct of the ruling coalition about the opposition which immediately accepted the gesture.

This was followed by a belated mini-debate on the merits and demerits of the bill, which has already been passed by the National Assembly and needs only a presidential assent to become an act of parliament.

The proceedings seemed to be a replay of the last day of the previous National Assembly session on April 8 when Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain liberally allowed members to speak on any thing under the sun in a move to cool tempers frayed by a hurried passage of the NSC bill there a day earlier while the opposition had walked out in protest.

PENANCE: Mr Sajjad seemed to be in a virtual penance on behalf of the treasury benches for not trying on Wednesday to persuade the opposition to end its walkout against allegedly inadequate share in 27 house committees and instead asking the chair to cut short a general debate and get the bill passed.

"This is a lapse that I did not go (to bring back protesting opposition senators) for which I apologize," he said. However, he pointed out, no illegality had been committed as the house had to proceed with its business when opposition members were absent and did not come forward to make speeches set for a general debate on the NSC bill.

Mr Sajjad said he had also offered his regrets in telephone calls to PPP parliamentary leader Raza Rabbani, MMA's Prof Khurshid Ahmed and PML-N's Sadia Abbasi. Prof Khurshid said he accepted Mr Sajjad's apology for a 'regrettable' incident and assured the treasury benches that "we want to run this house".

Mr S.M. Zafar of the PML-Q said Mr Sajjad's admission of a mistake had enhanced the dignity of the Senate which "can become a model house" if the understanding shown on Friday were maintained. Several other senators from both sides also spoke about the NSC bill.

PANDEMONIUM: Earlier, a pandemonium broke out after the start of the sitting for which the Senate secretariat had put only private motions, resolutions and bills on the agenda because there was no government business left after the passage of the NSC bill.

Both sides hurled allegations against each other and the opposition also pointed fingers at the chair for allegedly not implementing a decision they said had been reached at a house advisory committee's meeting to put the bill for a vote on Friday.

Opposition members alleged they were not being allowed to give their input on such an important bill. On the other hand, treasury members accused the opposition of always making the house hostage and hampering business by raising 'unnecessary' points of order.

The chair clarified that the bill was not passed in three minutes but was discussed for six hours and 41 minutes in two sittings on Tuesday and said that names of opposition members were also called for speeches on the day when the bill was adopted.

Mr Sajjad sprang up to clarify the situation and after failing to make his point owing to the furore said the treasury members would also not hear the opposition silently if the latter did not allow them to speak. The opposition refused to attend the meeting in the chairman's chamber.

But ruling party Senators S.M. Zafar, Mushahid Hussain Syed and Tariq Azeem Khan were seen trying to convince MMA's Prof Khurshid Ahmed to cool down other opposition members.

Later, it was decided to prepare a list and that members wishing to speak on the issue would be allowed to vent their anger. Mr Tariq Azeem and PPP's Safdar Abbasi finalized the list which was presented to the chair during the meeting in his chamber.

Earlier, Prof Khurshid rose on a point of order and said that Wednesday would be remembered as the 'darkest day' in the country's chequered parliamentary history because of the NSC bill's passage by the ruling coalition in a few minutes. He said the bill's bulldozing had "blackened the face of the house" and would tarnish the country's image in the world.