ISLAMABAD, Aug 27: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Saturday summoned the National Assembly session for Monday. An announcement made by the National Assembly’s Secretariat said the lower house had been summoned to meet at the parliament building at 5:30pm for the session’s first sitting.

Sources said that several opposition members of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), including its chairman Amin Fahim, may not attend the first sitting because of an ARD meeting on Monday in Lahore. The ARD meeting would discuss alleged rigging in the local body polls.

The last session of the 342-seat assembly ended on June 17 after the house passed the federal budget for the 2005-06 fiscal year.

Parliamentary sources said the new session was likely to continue for 25 days and then would be adjourn to allow the MNAs to join the local council polls’ campaign for the third and last phase.

The National Assembly has been in session for only 74 days after the start of its third parliamentary year on Nov 17, 2005.