KARACHI, Aug 11: The Sindh Assembly, which meets here on Tuesday at 3pm, is likely to witness a few surprise moves as the session has been summoned in the wake of an impeachment decision by the ruling coalition parties, the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

The significance of the session may be judged from the rushing back of Sindh Assembly speaker Nisar Ahmad Khuhro and his delegation members from Malaysia, where they had gone to attend a meeting of the Common Wealth Parliamentarians Association. The delegation returned home on Saturday.

For Tuesday, being a private members day, the order of the day had five resolutions and five motions, but no item pertains to the much-talked about resolution which was mentioned by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah during his hurriedly called press conference on Friday.

The resolution, according to the chief minister, would be moved in the assembly calling upon President Pervez Musharraf to honour his commitment made to the Supreme Court through the attorney-general that after the formation of newly elected assemblies, he would seek a vote of confidence.

It is surprising that opposition members have not submitted any resolution for the private members’ day. When Hadi Bux Buriro, secretary of the assembly, was asked if there was any resolution moved by members from the opposition benches, he said: “No. We have not received any resolution from the opposition benches.”

The other surprise was manifested by the order of the day, which did not include the resolution for which the house was summoned calling upon President Musharraf to get a confidence vote from the assemblies.

However, under the rules of procedure of the assembly, the resolution could be moved under Rule 211 by moving a motion in the House requesting the speaker for the suspension of all relevant rules and allowing moving of the resolution. In the house of 168, the PPP has 93 members, which is a sufficient number to get the motion carried through and to take up the resolution after relaxation of the rules.

The order of the day has nine items. Besides routine matters of recitation from the Holy Quran and Naat, nomination of a panel of four chairmen by the speaker for the session, which is sixth in a row since the present assembly came into being after the Feb 18 elections.

The questions hour will be about culture, tourism and industries departments. This will be followed by a leave application and a privilege motion. No adjournment motion has been received by the assembly secretariat.

Out of the five resolutions on the agenda for Tuesday’s session, two were moved by Nadeem Ahmed Bhutto of the PPP, which are regarding the appointment of local people in multi-national oil and gas companies and the other to initiate an inquiry in connection with the theft of precious historical items from Moenjodaro.

The remaining three resolutions, which were submitted by Dr Sikander Ali Mandhro of the PPP, pertain to the rehabilitation of the Ramsar sites in the province and to protect the deteriorating lakes and lagoons in the coastal areas of Badin and Thatta.

The PPP parliamentary party, which met at the Chief Minister House on Saturday, had already finalised its strategy and also consulted the party high command on Monday in Islamabad.

Sources said 86 MPAs had attended the meeting. The two MPAs of the Awami National Party also attended the meeting. Some of the PPP MPAs were abroad and they were told to rush back; some of them had already returned.

The joint opposition in the Sindh Assembly, led by Jam Madad Ali and composed of the PML-F (8), PML-Q (7) and NPP (3), which was scheduled to meet on Monday at the Jam House, put off its meeting to 1pm on Tuesday when they would meet in the opposition chamber before going to the house.

However, PML-F chief Pir Pagara has issued a statement in favour of President Pervez Musharraf, as such it is likely that most of its members will oppose the resolution demanding impeachment. But, according to close circles of the opposition, if the resolution demanded that the president take a vote of confidence from the assemblies, it is likely that most of the members of the opposition might vote for the resolution.