Opposition prepares to give tough time to treasury, National Assembly session begins on September 10

The first session of the National Assembly, after Shaukat Aziz took charge as prime minister, will begin on Friday, as combined opposition prepares to give tough time to the treasury on the president's uniform issue.
"The final strategy on how to raise the issue will be decided at the parliamentary parties' meeting prior to the session," Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Deputy Secretary General Hafiz Hussain Ahmed told Business Recorder here on Thursday.
The government has summoned the session after which the opposition parties have decided not to file a requisition in this connection.
However, he said that the MMA and the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) shared complete unanimity that President Musharraf must honour his commitment to the nation and shed his uniform before or on December 31 in line with the 17th Amendment.
The statements by Musharraf and other functionaries have, somehow, overshadowed the issue regarding the non-issuance of production order of the jailed ARD President Javed Hashmi.
Already the two leading alliances, the ARD and MMA have filed separate adjournment and privilege motions to take President Musharraf to task on his statement against doffing his military uniform.
President Musharraf caused turmoil on the political scene when in a recent interview, he said that the 17th Amendment did not envisage that he should quit as the chief of army staff by December 31.
Political analysts believed that President Musharraf's statement on uniform could be the beginning of the Legal Framework Order-like protest afresh, jointly by all the opposition groups, leading to some big change on the political scene.
Some circles, even in the corridors of power, have not ruled out packing up of the system within six months or so, if the powerful opposition could not be hushed up, chanting 'Go Musharraf go' slogans.
In this connection, they said that the government had already devised a strategy on how to cope with noisy protests and sloganeering inside the Lower House of the Parliament.
To a question, they did not rule out the possibility of confinement of some opposition MNAs, such as Tehmina Daultana, Khwaja Saad Rafique, Abid Sher Ali of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), Maimoona Hashmi, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Ms Naheed Khan and the likes to reign in the opposition.
"Action against some opposition lawmakers can do the trick, forcing others to remain in limit," they said.
Needless to say, the first sitting of the National Assembly, scheduled for 5:00 pm would be full of noise and 'action' and the response of the treasury members would be worth watching.
It will be interesting to note how the aspirants of ministerial slots will react in the House, after they were left out. They include Kashmala Tariq, Tanvir Hussain Syed and Ejaz Chaudhry.
Sources said that in their private meetings, they have expressed their outrage over being ignored, while naming the largest ever cabinet with 59 federal and ministers of state and three advisers.
The ARD component parties' heads will meet at the camp office of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) at 10:00 am, while briefing is expected at 12:30 pm.