KARACHI, Feb 7: The People’s Party Parliamentarians is expected to file another application on Saturday for requisitioning the Sindh Assembly to discuss various issues including the Thal canal project, which it considers detrimental to the interests of the province.

Sources in the party said that leader of the opposition Nisar Ahmed Khuhro was having a last-minute consultations with the allies to finalize the formulations which would be filed on Feb 8.

According to rules, the Speaker has to summon a session within fourteen days after receiving the requisition notice.

As there was skepticism about the fate of the application, some of the PPP deputies had suggested not to requisition the session because they felt that once such a move was made, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-dominated government would initiate its own agenda to scuttle “real debate on crunch issues” to take credit, as it did in the case of law and order, NFC and other issues.

The opposition leader had on Jan 18 requisitioned the session to discuss the NFC Award, law and order, unemployment and continued ban on appointments, effects of the Thal canal project, its consequences and the steps taken by the provincial government.

Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah had decided to summon the requisitioned session on Jan 30 but had to change his mind when on Jan 21 the governor summoned the session for Jan 27.

It is the contention of the opposition that the Thal canal project — work on which has been continuing despite opposition from the people of Sindh — would turn more areas into desert and seriously affect the province’s ecology by ruining its agriculture-based economy.

The PPP sources said that the opposition’s agenda was also likely to include the question of tariff-hike by the KESC and Wapda, implementation of free compulsory education up to matric and shortage of water for agriculturists on tail-end, besides the Lyari expressway project.

The party also wants the assembly to debate the government’s alleged interference in the recently-held by-elections, during which three people were killed in Khairpur area.

The issue was, nevertheless, extensively debated in the context of law and order in the last session.