ISLAMABAD, Dec 14: The National Assembly meets on Monday to begin a likely hot winter session that could witness fireworks over a judicial challenge to parliament’s powers and volatile relations with India after a disruption of the peace process by last month’s Mumbai attacks.

Though an unfinished debate on President Asif Ali Zardari’s September address to parliament is the main agenda item, parliamentary sources said initial proceedings of an expected two-week session would be dominated by hot issues such as alleged favours won by a daughter of the chief justice to get admission in a medical college and renewed tensions with India over the Mumbai attacks.

The issue of alleged favours to the daughter of Supreme Court Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar by awarding her additional marks after an intermediate examination is likely to come up soon after the start of the session at 3pm, and has the potential of becoming explosive if Speaker Fehmida Mirza is unable to resolve a row over the convening of the house standing committee on education by its chairman Abid Sher Ali of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N who wants to summon the chief justice to answer a few questions about his role in the affair.

The speaker’s own credibility will be put to test in tackling a controversial order by a Supreme Court judge blocking the committee proceedings, which some top legal names think is an untenable challenge to parliamentary supremacy — though some others say Justice Dogar cannot be summoned even in his private capacity.

The issue is bound to renew the controversy over the status of the present Supreme Court, most of whose judges had taken oath under a Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) decreed by former president Pervez Musharraf after he proclaimed an extra-constitutional emergency on Nov 3, 2007 while the present government has yet to fulfil its promise to reinstate deposed chief Justice justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and many other Supreme Court and high court judges.

A heated discussion, through adjournment motions or points of order, is also expected on Indian allegations of Pakistani links of the 10 gunmen played havoc in Mumbai – only one of them captured alive — and a UN-ordered ban and a government crackdown on Jamaatud Dawa as an alleged front of the already banned Lashkar-e-Taiba guerrilla group.

Other issues such as military operations against pro-Al Qaeda and pro-Taliban militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, frequent missile strikes there by US drones, continuing food shortages and power cuts and the law and order problems like the recent ethnic clashes in Karachi, as well as economic problems like the loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund are also likely to be discussed.

There was no official word yet about any major legislative work for this session as the PPP-led coalition government seemed to have put on hold its planned constitutional amendment package until the election of the half of the 100-seat Senate in March to be sure of a required two-third majority.

While the house consumed only 15 hours in its last session last month, the sources said the treasury benches would try to finish the remaining 25 hours during this session before a recess is announced before the first anniversary of the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.