June 16, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 11, 1429

ISLAMABAD, June 15: The ruling coalition’s parliamentary group met at the Parliament House on Sunday before resumption of the budget debate in the Senate and National Assembly.

Sources said the main purpose of the meeting was to convey to the lawmakers a message from Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani to ensure their full participation in the budget session in the coming days when cut motions would be presented to approve next year’s budget.

The sources said that maintaining quorum and ensuring attendance of its members was crucial for the government because it might have to resign if any cut motion was rejected in voting.

The meeting was attended by more than 70 lawmakers of the Pakistan People’s Party, Pakistan Muslim League-N and Awami National Party. However, lawmakers of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) did not turn up.

According to the sources, lawmakers from the PML-N raised the issue of moving a motion for the impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf during the current session of parliament.

They questioned what they termed a mysterious delay in moving the resolution while the PPP leadership apparently agreed on starting the process.

The sources said the impeachment resolution had been prepared and signatures of the required number of lawmakers had been obtained.

“The resolution for impeachment can be moved anytime if the leadership agrees on a date,” the sources claimed.

The participants of the meeting expressed displeasure over the absence of most of the cabinet members. Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah, Najmuddin Khan and Syed Naveed Qamar were the only ministers who attended the meeting.

The parliamentary group, the sources said, expressed satisfaction over the ‘happy ending’ of the long march in Islamabad.