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  • Feb 2nd, 2005
  • Comments Off on Noisy session likely as Senate meets today
The opening day of the 19th session of the Senate is expected to be noisy, as the treasury and the opposition draw up their strategy before the proceedings on Wednesday evening. The parliamentary parties' meeting will be held at the Parliament House an hour before the new session will commence. Leader of the House Senator Wasim Sajjad will preside over the ruling coalition senators' meeting while Senator Raza Rabbani will chair the combined opposition meeting.

" After PPP senators meeting, the Democratic Alliance will hold a session, which will be followed by a meeting of all the opposition groups in the Senate," said Senator Farhatullah Babar.

The session will be the first after President General Pervez Musharraf decided to continue holding the slot of the chief of the army staff beyond the December 31 constitutional deadline.

Likewise, a chain of developments has taken place vis-a-vis Balochistan since the 18th session was prorogued in the second week of December, therefore the developments in the province will be the focus of attention in the House.

The session is expected to continue for at least 12 days to fulfil the constitutional requirement of the Senate's at least 90 days' sittings in a parliamentary year.

PRIME FOCUS: The prime focus of the opposition will be on the prevailing Balochistan situation with particular reference to the gang rape of a lady doctor and the attacks on important installations afterwards.

"Yes, it is quite likely that PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain may inform the House about the measures taken so far to handle the situation and the Balochistan package," a ruling party senator told Business Recorder.

Senator Mian Raza Rabbani will be attending the session for the first time after he was named the Leader of the Opposition last month, which is seen by some observes as part of reconciliation bid between the government and the Pakistan People's Party.

The party has rejected reports, suggesting it was in for reconciliation talks with the government, however, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said contacts were under way.

Meanwhile, senators from the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Pakistan People's Party and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) filed an adjournment motion, seeking debate in the Senate on the assassination of Maulana Haroonul Qasmi.

Senators Professor Khurshid Ahmed, Mian Raza Rabbani, M. Ishaq Dar, Safdar Ali Abbasi and Abdul Latif Khosa signed the motion, which flayed the government to its inability to ensure life protection.

Sources told Business Recorder that ARD Chairman and PPP Vice-Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf also filed an adjournment motion with the National Assembly Secretariat.

The motion holds the Ministry of Communications, more precisely the National Highway Authority, for day to day fatal road accidents.

The lawmakers contended that the matter should be discussed in the Lower House of the Parliament and it should be made clear who was responsible for the recent accident, some 20 kilometres away from Jacobabad, which claimed 26 lives.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2005


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