ISLAMABAD, Sept 15: Main opposition alliances on Monday vowed to remain united, opposing the Legal Framework Order as they continued their noisy protest in the National Assembly on the eve of the government’s planned talks with one of them to settle the 11-month-old issue.

Spokesmen for both the Alliance for the Restoration Democracy and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal also voiced doubts about the success of Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali’s talks with the MMA on Tuesday evening because of their perceived uncompromising statements by some ruling party members.

Opposition members shouted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf and LFO for about 20 minutes before storming out of the house.

They began shouting their usual slogans of “Go Musharraf, Go” and “No LFO, No” as well as “Restore the Constitution” soon after the start of the session following a two-day-long weekend recess. ARD members, including those of the PPP and the PML-N, wore stickers that read “one who is traitor to the constitution deserves death”.

ARD’s parliamentary leader Javed Hashmi told reporters after the walkout that both the ARD and the MMA were united on a one- point agenda — the LFO, which gives sweeping powers to President Musharraf, was unacceptable.

“This has been our slogan till now and will remain so even tomorrow,” he said.

He and PPP’s secretary-general Raja Pervez Ashraf also accused the government of trying to divide opposition parties to weaken their resistance against the LFO, adding that such attempts would not succeed.

MMA’s parliamentary leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed said the six religio-political parties, constituting the alliance, would meet on Tuesday to decide whether or not to attend the talks set for the evening after statements by Prime Minister Jamali and some members of the PML-Q giving the impression that the government was unwilling to accept the opposition’s key demands.

MMA’s spokesman Liaquat Baloch said the MMA would urge the government to invite other opposition parties, such as those in the ARD, after giving clarifications they had sought about the LFO’s status.

Opposition leaders, including Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chief Imran Khan, accused President Musharraf of trying to divert the people’s attention from the ongoing constitutional crisis and his plan to send Pakistani troops to Iraq by raising the issue of the proposed Kalabagh Dam.

Inside the house, two ministers and some members of the treasury benches praised the president’s Saturday broadcast on over radio and television about the necessity of building new dams, including the Kalabagh dam that is opposed by political groups in the NWFP, Sindh and Balochistan.

Water and Power Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said the president’s broadcast had sought to emphasise the need for big reservoirs to meet the country’s future needs for irrigation water besides emphasizing that the government would take along all federating units while implementing such projects.

PML-Q’s chief whip and Labour and Manpower Minister Abdul Sattar Laleka praised what he called the president’s sincerity in the placing the issue of water before the nation.

The discussion was started through a point-of-order raised by People’s Party Patriots’ parliamentary leader Sher Afgan Niazi, who is known for his support for the Kalabagh dam which, if built, will be located in his home district of Mianwali.