The opposition is expected to raise the issues of Cabinet expansion, continuous price hike, poor law and order situation and Cabinet expansion during the first sitting of the 35th session of the National Assembly on Friday.
President General Pervez Musharraf has summoned the session under Clause (1) of the Article 54 of the Constitution at the Parliament House at 10:00 am.
Pakistan Muslim League (PML) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain will chair the parliamentary party meeting before the session at the Parliament House to ensure maximum presence of members, PML Information Secretary Senator Tariq Azeem told Business Recorder.
Tariq, who was in London when Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif met at the latter's residence, renewing their pledge to step up the joint struggle for revival of democracy, said that the PML leader was unhappy over thin attendance of the party MNAs during the previous session prorogued on April 19.
Shujaat had played down the matter last week, saying that lack of quorum would not be an issue in the next session. How much he succeeds in influencing the dwindling interests of the members is yet to be seen.
Federal Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sher Afgan Niazi is indisposed and may not be able to appear in the House on Friday and can skip some sittings afterwards, an official at his office told Business Recorder.
However, newly installed Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Senator Kamil Ali Agha would be available to facilitate the proceedings. He replaced Raza Hayat Hiraj of PPPP-Sherpao.
The combined opposition had arguably put the government and its members in the House on the back foot on the issues of law and order situation, price hike and the privatisation of Pakistan Steel Mills during the previous session.
Speaker Amir Hussain had to come to the treasury benches' rescue once again, when he prorogued the 34th session, rejecting the opposition's motion for counting the members on referring the mills' sell-off issue to the Public Accounts Committee, smelling the ruling coalition's defeat.
A sitting may be held on Saturday, as otherwise, there will be a three-day recess after the Friday's business. May Day (public holiday) falls on Monday.
The House is likely to face tough times in terms of the opposition's anticipated criticism on apparently uncontrollable increase in the prices of essential items of daily use and law and order in Balochistan and the tribal belt.
"I concede that we have failed to capitalise on many issues hitting the common man hard and could not bring the people on roads against the rulers," Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Deputy Secretary General Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said.
Cartels have been given a free hand to multiply profits, be it sugar, cement, tea or any other item, he said and alleged that there were no signs of writ of the government in any part of the country.
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