ISLAMABAD, Jan 16: The National Assembly meets on Tuesday for what will likely be a stormy session of opposition protests over the issues ranging from the Kalabagh dam to Balochistan trouble and the US airstrike in Bajaur.

The session, beginning at 5pm, was requisitioned jointly by all opposition parties to discuss a government crackdown in Balochistan, the controversy over the Kalabagh dam project and high prices of petroleum products partly blamed on the government’s pricing formula.

But the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) introduced another issue by sending a notice to the NA secretariat seeking a debate on Friday’s air-strike in Bajaur Agency in which at least 18 people were killed.

The opposition parties, including those in the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, will decide among themselves and then take a joint position in a house business advisory committee about the order of the issues to be taken up for debate in the session.

Both the Kalabagh dam and Balochistan issues generated a lot of heat during a 12-day Senate session that ended on Jan 2. The two sides have also argued several times over oil pricing in both houses of parliament.

But a new element was introduced in the Balochistan situation by President General Pervez Musharraf’s allegation that India is arming and financing Baloch militants whose rocket attacks provoked what is described by opposition as a military operation and by the government as an action against fararis (absconders from law).

The Baloch and other opposition members are likely to come hard on the government over its claim of Indian involvement and seek proof of New Delhi’s help to the militants.

The interior ministry seemed to be trying to defuse the urgency of the Balochistan situation by announcing on Sunday what it called the completion of the crackdown, but clashes in the Kohlu district the same day and a second disruption of gas supply to the Uch power plant within this month showed things were no better.

The controversy over Kalabagh dam has not abated despite assurances the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) said it had received last week from President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz that the project would not be undertaken without consensus of all the four provinces.

The role of the MQM, a partner in the ruling coalition, will be keenly watched during the NA session after the party swiftly withdrew its threat last week to quit the government if the Balochistan operation was continued but joined its rival MMA to hold a demonstration in Karachi on Sunday to protest against the US air-strike in Bajaur agency’s Damadola village.

The government’s rare protest lodged with the US ambassador on Saturday is unlikely to spare it the severity of opposition’s criticism in view of the widespread resentment against the air-strike, which US officials say was targeted against Al Qaeda’s number two Ayman al Zawahiri though his presence in the area at the time remains unproved.

“This latest incident of bombing by foreign forces in Pakistan’s territory has caused grave concern amongst the general public and requires an immediate debate on the issue (by) adjourning the normal proceedings of the house,” the MMA’s motion said.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz acting parliamentary leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was the prime mover of the requisition for the assembly session that carried 144 signatures.