National Assembly: Opposition brings out ammo before parliament session

President summons 41st session on Wednesday.

ISLAMABAD:

The first session of National Assembly’s fifth, and last, parliamentary year is going to start from April 25 and the opposition is raring to have a go at the government on a range of issues.

President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday summoned the 41st session of the lower house in exercise of powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 54 of the Constitution. With this officially being the beginning of the last parliamentary year, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), hopeful of forming the next government, is all set to take the government to task over a wide range of issues.

The law and order situation in Balochistan and Karachi, the Bhoja Air crash, unprecedented increase in prices of petroleum prices and, above all, the recently-surfaced ephedrine scandal are the subjects that the opposition will take up, a PML-N spokesperson said while talking to The Express Tribune. The party has already submitted an adjournment motion in the National Assembly Secretariat seeking a discussion on the law and order situation in Balochistan with particular reference to the recent spate of sectarian killings.

Earlier this month, when both houses of parliament were in session, law and order situation of province came under discussion and references of a special committee headed by Religious Affairs Minister Khursheed Shah were also made.

The committee was constituted after violence in Karachi and Balochistan; however, the committee could not produce the desired results.

The interior minister, on several occasions, whenever questioned over the law and order situation, held the inordinate delay in the passage of an anti-terrorism bill responsible. Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza had asked the Minister to move the bill in the National Assembly for approval – and hence there is a possibility that this bill may be brought into the house by the government.

The opposition has also expressed dissatisfaction over government’s response to Bhoja Air plane crash in which all 127 people were killed. The spokesperson further said that “we will question the government over the incident and demand proper investigation by people who are not controversial.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2012.