In response to an earlier charge made today by ANC MP Levon Zurabyan that the government’s call for the creation of an ad-hoc committee to review the natural gas issue was an attempt to ‘bury’ the truth, parliament speaker Hovik Abrahamyan declared, “We are neither funeral directors or master of concealment.”

Abrahamyan chided the opposition for seeking to railroad the government’s initive before it even got off the ground.

The speaker told legislators that the government had included points of the opposition’s earlier initiative into the new bill, including the provision that the new committee would provide for equal representation of all factions.

Abrahamyan also pointed out that the ruling coalition would seriously consider the proposal raised by Prosperous Party MP Naira Zohrabyan that the committee, if established, should finalize its review of the natural gas issue by the close of the current spring legislative session.

The government had initially proposed a November deadline for the committee. Zohrabyan argued that this was a ploy for the government to gain time.