ISLAMABAD, March 8: Opposition parties will press for a debate on US President George Bush’s visit and voice protests over some other burning issues during the National Assembly session beginning on Thursday, sources said on Wednesday.

They said the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) had submitted resolutions for the debate on an issue that would be hard for the ruling coalition to avoid.

Other issues likely to evoke wordy duels between the two sides will include the government’s controversial handling of recent protests against the blasphemous cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), the situation in Balochistan and the insurgency in North Waziristan tribal area, the opposition sources said.

But the session’s opening sitting, due to begin at 4pm, may spare the government what are likely to be hard-hitting opposition assaults because the house is likely to be adjourned for the day without conducting any business to mourn last month’s death of Muttahida Qaumi Movement member Prof Khalid Wahab.

It was not immediately clear if the National Assembly will meet on Friday when the opposition parties could press their motions because the house members are also due to vote the same day to elect one senator from Islamabad and four senators from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) to replace as many retiring senators from the two areas.

Three separate resolutions signed by alliance members were submitted to the assembly secretariat on Wednesday with identical texts calling for an immediate debate on what they called “the geo-political situation in the country” after Mr Bush’s visit, ARD sources said.

The ARD parties, according to the sources, will question the ruling alliance about the results of the visit, which the alliance said after a meeting on Tuesday had exposed the government’s foreign policy “failure”.

The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) alliance is likely to spearhead motions for debates on the latest army operations in North Waziristan immediately before and at the end of the Bush visit.

But the ARD and MMA are likely to raise the issues of Balochistan and anti-cartoon protests, which are still raging across the country.

The government is likely to inform the house about the outcome of a parliamentary delegation it sent to Europe last week to covey governments and parliamentarians the feelings of Pakistanis over the issue. The opposition had declined to join the delegation.