September 12, 2006	Tuesday	Sha'aban 18, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 11: The 31st session of the Senate will begin here on Tuesday evening with opposition planning to lodge a strong protest over the killing of Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) chief Nawab Akbar Bugti during a military operation in Kohlu on August 26.

President Gen Musharraf has convened the session of the upper house, apparently, to rush a controversial women’s protection bill that has been lying pending with the National Assembly owing to the ongoing negotiations between the government and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA).

The government has convened the session ignoring the requisition notice submitted by the opposition members to discuss the prevailing political situation in Balochistan after the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti.

Talking to Dawn, People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) Senator Dr Safdar Abbasi said the opposition members would press the government to hold the session on the agenda provided by them in the requisition notice. He said if the government ended the session without discussing the Balochistan situation, then the opposition would demand fresh session under their already submitted requisition notice.

Dr Abbasi said according to a ruling of former Senate chairman and present leader of the house Wasim Sajjad, the requisition notice did not lapse even if the government convened its own session, and the notice remained pending. He said the government was bound to summon the session within 14 days after prorogation of its own convened session.

The opposition, he said, would also like to discuss the situation arising out of floods and heavy rains in Sindh. He said the recent rains had exposed the inefficiency of the federal, provincial and district governments.

It may be mentioned that the government had earlier planned to call the Senate session on Thursday evening after a morning sitting of the National Assembly was scheduled to take up and possibly pass the bill seeking to protect women from the misuse of two controversial Hudood laws concerning Zina (rape and adultery) and Qazf (false allegation of Zina). But the government decided to defer the consideration of the bill to allow time for consultations in a committee of Islamic scholars from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and the MMA.

Meanwhile, the ruling and opposition parties have also convened separate meetings of their senators to discuss the strategy for the forthcoming session. Leader of the House Wasim Sajjad has called a meeting of the parliamentary party of the PML and allied groups in the upper house at 3pm. Similarly, Leader of Opposition Raza Rabbani has also convened a meeting of the PPP senators at 12 noon. The meeting of the opposition Democratic Alliance, comprising the PPP, PML-N and nationalist parties from the NWFP and Balochistan, would be held at 2pm. The meeting of the joint opposition, including the MMA, would be held at 3pm.