11 April 2005	Monday	01 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, April 10: Political unrest in Balochistan may affect the National Assembly session beginning on Monday after a 17-day recess, though the government tried hard to ease tensions in the province, parliamentary sources said on Sunday. The lower house, summoned by President Pervez Musharraf on Friday, appears to have come as a surprise to opposition parties, which were expecting him to call an already delayed joint sitting of both houses of parliament soon and face protests they have planned to make during his speech there.

Meanwhile, ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain announced on Friday that the joint sitting, which must be held at the start of each parliamentary year, would not be called before the president’s “cricket diplomacy” visit to India likely on April 16-17.

The president is due to go to New Delhi to watch the sixth and last one-day cricket international between India and Pakistan on April 17 and use the occasion to hold talks with Indian leaders on ways to speed up a slow-moving peace process between the two countries.

Parliamentary parties of the main opposition groupings of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal will meet on Monday before the National Assembly meets at 4pm to chart their plans for the session, opposition sources said.

However, they said the opposition parties would be keen to the raise the Balochistan issue, which has kept the government under opposition fire for months and does not seem to go away.

The sources said the opposition would seek the government’s explanation about the failure of a parliamentary committee headed by Shujaat Hussain to come up with its report about immediate and long-term problems of Balochistan despite repeated government assurances to implement most of the proposals that are yet to be made public.

The opposition parties are also likely to question the government about a secret understanding that the PML president says he and party secretary-general Mushahid Hussain have reached with Jamhoori Watan Party chief and Bugti tribe chieftain Akbar Bugti to end a standoff between tribesmen and security forces in Dera Bugti area after deadly clashes on March 17.

There was no immediate word from the government about its legislation plans for what would be the 24th session, the last session was prorogued on March 24.

One opposition source said that by calling the lower house session now, the government had upstaged opposition plans to requisition a session to discuss important issues such as the prevailing price hike, foreign policy issues like the status of peace dialogue with India, the law and order situation and the performance of the parliamentary committee on Balochistan.

Now that the National Assembly session has been called, a joint opposition requisition for a special Senate session to discuss these issues will be filed on Monday, ARD parliamentary secretary Izhar Amrohwi, told Dawn.

SHUJAAT-SHAUKAT MEETING: In a related development, the PML president met Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz at the Prime Minister’s House on Sunday evening and, according to an official statement, discussed matters relating to situation in Dera Bugti and nearby Sui area, the National Assembly session and party affairs.

The prime minister appreciated the efforts of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Mr Mushahid Hussain “in improving the situation in Dera Bugti and Sui”, the statement said.

It also quoted the prime minister as reiterating “the government’s resolve to settle all issues through dialogue” and saying that the government was “committed to bring about a qualitative improvement in the lives of the People of Balochistan”.