LAHORE, May 26: The opposition in the Punjab Assembly on Monday vowed to continue its protest till “parliament gets sovereignty and the government stops ignoring the opposition.”

Opposition leader Qasim Zia told journalists after the assembly session that there would be no let-up in the opposition protest as long as treasury benches refused to release development funds to the opposition members.

Today’s protest, he said, was not against the Legal Framework Order alone, but also against the law and order situation and for the release of development funds.

A meeting of the parliamentary party has been called at 8am on Tuesday before the assembly session and a protest strategy will be chalked out.

About violence in the session, he said, the PPP did not start it. Some women MPAs from the treasure benches started the brawl and then it was free for all. The government should respect all members of the assembly, otherwise more crisis would come its way, he warned.

The opposition had been trusting the government promise that it wanted to take all members along irrespective of their political affiliations. But now, seven months down the lane, it has backed out and not releasing funds.

Mr Zia claimed that the opposition was fighting for the sovereignty of parliament with full knowledge that it would benefit the government.

He also vowed to continue “purposeful dialogue” with the government. The opposition has never closed its doors nor it would. It would consider every serious offer on some substantive issues, he added.

Rana Sanaullah of the PML-N told journalists in his chamber that the government had not left any option for the opposition but to protest. For the last seven months, it had been testing the patience of the opposition and now it decided to deny development funds to opposition members.

He agreed with provincial law minister Raja Basharat that the provincial assembly was not the forum to debate the LFO. He claimed that the opposition did not want the PA to accept or reject the LFO but only to debate it and deliver its opinion, nothing beyond it. After all, the assembly of the largest province must have opinion on national issues and express it too.

Every MP has the right to develop his or her area and should get funds for the purpose, he contended.

About the protest strategy, he said it would continue till the government resolved all three issues. The opposition wanted to remain peaceful and tried to be patient, but it was the government that triggered the crisis.

He said the opposition handed over the draft of the resolution to the provincial law minister well in advance and the treasury did not find faults till the assembly session began. If it had any objection to the language, it should have taken the opposition into confidence.