21 August 2004	Saturday	04 Rajab 1425

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 20: Ruling coalition's cheers and an opposition silence greeted prime minister-designate Shaukat Aziz as he took his seat in the National Assembly on Friday in his singular march to the new office he is likely to assume early next week.

Soon after taking oath as a member of the assembly from Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain in a comparative calm house, Mr Aziz seemed to be spreading his charm among political allies as well as opponents.

Before coming to the lower house for taking oath, Mr Aziz had resigned his seat in the Senate in an act that ended his position as finance minister in the cabinet of transitional Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

Mr Aziz was elected from two National Assembly constituencies in Aug 18 by-elections by defeating opposition Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) candidates by big margins.

But sources in the ruling Pakistan Muslim League said that Mr Aziz had retained the assembly seat from Attock, where he snatched victory from the jaws of death after escaping an assassination attempt by an apparent suicide bomber, and given up the one from Tharparkar.

Parliamentary sources said the current session of the National Assembly would be prorogued on Monday, to be followed by a special session possibly on Tuesday to elect Mr Aziz as prime minister, or the leader of the house.

Members on the treasury benches greeted Mr Aziz's induction as the assembly member by thumping their desks and many of them went over to him to congratulate him. But the members of opposition parties, which have accused the government of rigging the by-elections, remained quiet.

Mr Aziz went over to opposition benches immediately after coming to the house following a meeting of the ruling coalition parliamentary group and shook hands with ARD chairman Amin Fahim and several other members of the alliance.

After taking oath, the prime minister-designate again went to Mr Fahim's desk and chatted with him for more than 20 minutes. Mr Aziz's induction in the house was also marked by an unusual consensus between the treasury and opposition benches in unanimously passing a government bill giving the right of appeal to a complainant against acquittals by special courts under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Before the house was adjourned until 5.30pm on Monday, parliamentary secretary for finance Omar Ayub Khan informed the house that low credit rating of the Punjab Provincial Cooperative Bank Ltd was the reason for a decision to merge it into the Khushali Bank in order to protect people's deposits.

In response to a call-attention notice by three PPP members who objected to the merger, he said the cooperative bank did not meet the criterion of minimum paid-up capital set by the State Bank.

Responding to an earlier call-attention notice from five ruling party members, the parliamentary secretary said the government was seeking ways to check gambling practised across the country through the so-called 'parchi system' of prize bonds.

The speaker referred one privilege motion each of PML member Salim Jan Mazari and PPP member Manzoor Hussain Wassan to the privileges committee with the agreement of Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat.

Mr Mazari complained about what he called refusal by the Pakistan International Airlines to give him new travel tickets in lieu of those he said were lost in his missing baggage. Mr Wassan accused the police in Mirpurkhas of impounding his car and seizing his licensed weapons without any reason.

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