Pakistan's capital was on high alert Sunday a day before the convening of the new National Assembly and after a bomb struck an Italian restaurant crowded with foreigners, killing a Turkish aid worker and wounding at least 12 other people. Meanwhile, a missile fired into the south Waziristan tribal region killed 20 people Sunday. Foreigners linked to the Taleban and Al-Qaeda were believed to be staying at the compound in Doog village. Residents said they heard a series of explosions. The directly elected new National Assembly (Lower House of Parliament) is going to swear in Monday, the only business that it will transact on its first day. Incumbent Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain will administer oath to the MPs. He will vacate the office after the election of his predecessor on March 19. At the very outset, a controversy is likely to arise as the main electoral winners, the members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People's Party (PPP), say they will take oath under the 1973 Constitution, excluding the amendments made in it by President Pervez Musharraf on Nov 3 last and before. Before the swearing in, the parliamentary parties of the would-be coalition government – the PPP, PML-N and Awami National Party (ANP) - would hold a joint meeting at Parliament building. PPP leader Syed Khurshid Shah has formally invited the heads of the component parties in the next government to the meeting. He also called PPP Vice-Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, inviting him to the meeting. Meanwhile, main leaders of all the top four winning political parties will not be present in the new National Assembly. Zardari and Sharif, PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) supreme leader Altaf Hussain, who have not been elected to the Lower House, will watch their strategies implemented by their second-tier leadership. The PML-Q has named Chaudhry Pervez Elahi as its party leader in the Lower House. – With agency reports In Saturday's attack, US and British embassy personnel were wounded in what appeared to be the first one targeting foreigners in a recent wave of violence. Police stepped up vehicle checks Sunday throughout the capital and detained some suspects, said city police chief Shahid Nadeem Baloch. – With Agencies __
