Islamabad, Aug 21: Notwithstanding the stepped up opposition agitations, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has decided to hold the Pakistan national assembly sessions three days every week for the next three months to fulfil the constitutional requirement of holding 130 days of sessions of house in a year. The government, bogged down by repeated agitation and boycotts in Parliament with a belligerent opposition questioning the legality of the election of Gen Pervez Musharraf as president and his continuation as army chief, has taken the step to make up for the lost time. A determined government had last night continued with the session, even after the opposition parties, including the six party Islamist alliance, Muthahida Majlis Amal, (MMA) staged a noisy walkout shouting slogans against Gen. Musharraf and the Legal Framework Order, (LFO) promulgated by him to legalise his actions. The assembly met after two months as the last session was held in June in which the budget for the current fiscal year was adopted. Opposition members with stickers reading "no to dictatorship" stuck to their shirts raised slogans of "no LFO no" for several minutes before boycotting the session. Trouble began when a member from treasury benches praised Musharraf for announcing construction of a number of dams. Immediately, a senior Pakistan Muslim League-N, (PLM-N), member Tehmina Daultan objected to the speech saying "General Musharraf is not elected by the parliament and we did not consider him as the president".
Bureau Report