President Asif Ali Zardari has summoned the Senate and National Assembly sessions on November 6 and November 12, respectively. The Senate session would commence at 4:30pm while that of the National Assembly would be declared open at 5pm. Opposition benches of both the Upper and the Lower Houses will stage protests during the sessions and matters pertaining to the state craft would be snubbed by treasury and opposition benches shouting allegations and counter allegations against each other. Populist slogans and catch phrases regarding the Asghar Khan Case have started to gain momentum in the Houses already. The PML-N would go into the session demanding dissolution of the Balochistan government, as the Supreme Court has challenged its constitutionality. Efforts of the treasury benches to get the accountability bill passed from the two Houses would also invite resentment from the opposition. According to the latest draft, the chairman of the commission can either be a retired Supreme Court judge or a retired Grade-22 federal government officer. However the opposition is not ready to approve anyone except a retired judge of the Supreme Court. Another cause of disagreement between the two is Section 43 of the bill, which states that the “commission shall not investigate a complaint if the same is made after the expiry of a period of ten years from the date of the offence”. The House would also be divided when the issue dual nationality for the parliamentarians makes rounds. The House is divided over the matter and those in favour can only enact it if they secure a simple parliamentary majority. The treasury benches would also take verbal onslaughts of the opposition until consensus on the nomination of the next caretaker prime minister.
President Zardari to visit Qatar on Nov 6
ISLAMABAD
APP
President Asif Ali Zardari will pay a two-day official visit to Qatar on Tuesday with the purpose of strengthening ties with the Gulf state in multiple areas. The president will hold talks with Qatar’s emir and the prime minister, with particular focus on promoting trade and investment ties in a bid to add substance to bilateral relations. The president is likely to discuss issues of import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and finalization of trans-national formalities to import LNG at the earliest with the Qatari leadership.