ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: An opposition-less National Assembly will meet on Wednesday for a session that could see some last-gasp rubberstamping before its scheduled demise on Nov 15.

The lower house is already far short of its mandatory 130 working days in the last parliamentary year of its five-year term and the present session, due to begin at 5pm, was called suddenly after Saturday’s extra-constitutional proclamation of emergency and suspension of the constitution by President Pervez Musharraf in his capacity as army chief.

Since General Musharraf acted outside the scope of the Constitution, which he decreed to be in abeyance, the emergency declaration does not need to go to parliament for endorsement as would have been the case if the Constitution had not been suspended.

But parliamentary sources said the ruling coalition might pass a resolution to endorse the presidential move in the face of nearly universal disapproval at home and abroad and also finish some pending legislative business.

While more than 80 opposition members of parties belonging to the All Parties Democratic Movement had resigned from the 342-seat National Assembly last month in an effort to block the controversial election of President Musharraf for another five-year term, a last-minute decision by the People’s Party Parliamentarians for a boycott by about 60 its members will make the house totally opposition-less, free to rubberstamp any government move without obstruction.

The NA boycott was announced by PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto at a news conference soon after her arrival in Islamabad from Karachi on Tuesday as part of protests against the emergency proclamation, suspension of the Constitution, and related actions such as the overhaul of the superior judiciary, new restrictions on the media and a crackdown against lawyers, journalists and civil society activists.

The PPP legislators will instead hold a demonstration outside the parliament house.

The local journalists union also decided to boycott the National Assembly proceedings as well as official functions on Wednesday as a mark of protest against General Musharraf’s moves.

The session comes only nine days before the assembly is due to complete its five-year tenure on Nov 15.

But Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Niazi disagreed with the suggestion that this would be the last session of the present assembly, pointing to a clause of the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) that says: “The Majlis-i-Shoora (parliament) and the provincial assemblies shall continue to function”, which he said could prolong the life of the house.

But this clause is subject to an earlier clause in the PCO that says: “Notwithstanding the abeyance of the provisions of the Constitution … Pakistan shall, subject to this Order and any other order made by the president, be governed, as nearly as may be, in accordance with the Constitution.”

The assembly session comes amid speculation whether President Musharraf would stick to his declared plans to appoint caretaker governments at the federal and provincial levels at the expiration of the present terms of the assemblies to prepare for general elections in January or extend the life of the National Assembly and of the federal government.

It would be interesting to see which group in the ruling coalition stands for elections in January and which for an extension of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s government if the issue comes up in the present session, which Mr Niazi said was scheduled to last until Nov 14.