KARACHI, Aug 28: The Sindh Assembly resumes its requisitioned session on Tuesday after a 10-days recess announced by its speaker on the request of the treasury benches which had cited devastation by monsoon rains as the reason.

The house meets amid a high degree of tension and resentment which has gripped the entire country following the Kohlu tragedy in which a seasoned politician Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and his close relatives and aides lost their lives while resisting the ongoing military action that had already left quite a large number of people dead and injured.

The house had been adjourned on Aug 18 after meeting briefly and without taking up agenda for the day. There was an uproar from opposition benches which insisted that the house should discuss the agenda as it included pressing issues, one of them being the negligence shown by government functionaries in taking precautionary measures to avoid loss of life and property during monsoon rains and floods.

Leader of the opposition Nisar Ahmed Khuhro had pointed out that the session had been requisitioned to take up not only the avoidable damage from the monsoon rains and floods, but also the preparation of bogus voter lists to rig the upcoming general election, the unjustifiable ban on teachers’ associations and failure of the government in protecting rights of the province and maintaining law and order.

Now when the Balochistan military operation has taken an ugly turn and changed the political scenario, the joint opposition in the Sindh Assembly looks set to move a resolution to condemn the killing of Nawab Bugti and his companions.

There are reports that the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has submitted two resolutions with the Assembly Secretariat, one condemning Akbar Bugti’s killing and the other, an adjournment motion, deploring the police action against teachers and departmental action against some of them.

The MMA parliamentary party will meet on Tuesday morning, before the session resumes, an MMA leader says.

Several opposition legislators have indicated that the Kohlu tragedy will certainly be taken up in the house as the government had ignored all calls from political quarters asking it not to go ahead with the military operation in Balochistan. They said that the military rulers had also been cautioned that the use of brute force in the operation would have serious implications.

The situation is certain to generate heat as the treasury benches will come out with justifications to defend the action by the armed forces. Analysts believe that the opposition is not likely to be allowed to blow the issue out of proportion and the treasury side will move to get the session prorogued if the other side tried to press ahead.

Nisar Khuhro says that the opposition has already finalised its strategy to counter any such move by the treasury benches. He maintains that opposition legislators will exercise their right to move their motions in accordance with the rules of procedure.

The ruling coalition also held its meeting at the Chief Minister’s House on Monday. Leaders of the component parties in the coalition reviewed their combined strategy for the Tuesday proceedings.

Leader of the house, Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, could not attend the meeting as he had to rush to Islamabad soon after returning from Saudi Arabia, where he performed Umra.