ISLAMABAD, Jan 19: The government is likely to face a lot of flak at the start of a Senate session on Friday as opposition groups’ tempers continued to flare over last week’s deadly US air-strike in the Bajaur tribal area and the continuing crackdown in Balochistan province.
The opposition parties have already given a joint notice for an adjournment motion seeking an immediate debate on the Jan 13 strike that killed 18 people at Damadola village in Bajaur Agency bordering Afghanistan, an opposition source said.
However, they said, the opposition would also press for a resumption of a debate on the Balochistan situation begun in the previous Senate session which had not concluded even when the house was prorogued on Jan 2.
The last 11-day session was also marked by a stormy debate over the controversial Kalabagh dam, and one opposition source said the opposition parties may not have another go at the issue after the federal cabinet and President Pervez Musharraf agreed on Tuesday to defer the project and instead start work first on the Bhasha dam.
But the opposition parties might seek clarifications about conflicting reports over feasibility studies for the Bhasha dam in the Northern Areas.
On Friday morning, representatives of the ruling and opposition parties are likely to discuss plans separately among themselves and then with Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro in a joint business advisory committee before the start of the session at 10am.
The opposition will press for an immediate discussion on the Bajaur air strike, carried out by US predator drones or jets based in Afghanistan, opposition sources said.
There was no immediate indication about the possible government stance on the matter, but the managers of the ruling coalition in the Senate have in the past been more accommodating to the opposition than their party colleagues in the National Assembly.
The government has sought to defuse the situation by lodging a protest with the US ambassador in Islamabad and through a condemnation of the incident by the ruling party and the cabinet. Nevertheless, information leaks claiming the death of some foreign militants in Bajaur and apparently justifying the action could provoke opposition demands for proofs that have been missing so far.
Along with Bajaur, the opposition will also seek government explanations about the situation in North and South Waziristan tribal agencies, where there have been reports of many people leaving the area to escape being caught up in operations of both the paramilitary forces and pro-Taliban militants active there.
On Balochistan, opposition groups are likely to ask for evidence to prove President Musharraf’s allegations of India’s support for Baloch nationalist militants whom the government calls “feraris” (absconders from the law) or “miscreants”.
The opposition is also likely to bring up the government’s failure to announce a new National Finance Commission (NFC) award on provincial shares in the divisible pool of federal revenues and the president’s announcement on Tuesday to give the provinces only higher subventions for the time being, opposition sources said.
