Heavy agenda awaits Senate session on Jan 3

Lawmakers likely to discuss security situation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Karachi.

ISLAMABAD:

The 89th session of the Senate is likely to be requisitioned in the first week of 2013, with a heavy agenda to be discussed in the upper house of parliament.

Sources in the Senate Secretariat told The Express Tribune that it is most probable that the next session of the Senate will be called on Thursday January 3.

Issues to be discussed at the session, include the overall law and order situation of the country, particularly that in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Karachi, the rise in the price of electricity tariff by 0.9 paisa per unit by National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) and the poisonous cough syrup which has claimed at least 40 lives.

The Fair Trial Bill 2012 will also be tabled in the Senate, as it is to be passed within 14 days  of its passage by the lower house of parliament.



The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has submitted two call attention notices in the upper house, one on the price rise of the electricity tariff and the other on the toxic cough syrup.

Moreover, senators from the Awami National Party (ANP) will raise issues relating to militancy in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), which led to the assassination of senior provincial minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour and the assault on Peshawar airport.

The upper house will also pay homage to former senator and veteran politician Professor Ghafoor Ahmed, who passed away on December 26.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2012.