23 March 2004	Tuesday	01 Safar 1425

ISLAMABAD, March 22: The National Assembly on Monday regretted the assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin by an Israeli air strike in a mild resolution passed unanimously after opposition protests overcame the government's hesitation to join the move.

It took the two sides more than two hours of behind-the- scene arguments over words after an opposition walkout to agree to a joint resolution that also condemned Israel's "unmitigated violence" in occupied territories.

"It is regrettable that Israel resorted to targeted assassinations of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and his companions," the resolution said. "We hold the government of Israel responsible for this murder," it added.

The resolution, moved by Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat, called upon the international community to intensify efforts "to stem this escalation of violence on the innocent people of Palestine" and to focus on fundamental issues confronting them in their struggle.

In a reiteration of Pakistan's declared policy on the Middle East conflict, the resolution "strongly supported" a fair and equitable peace process in the region and efforts for the creation of a "sovereign and independent Palestinian state".

The walkout by all opposition parties in the lower house was provoked by an initial hesitation of the treasury benches to agree to the proposal for a joint resolution in the absence of Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri.

A ruling coalition delegation failed to bring the opposition back into the house and speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain's effort to carry on proceedings with only treasury benches failed because of a lack of quorum.

The house witnessed some noisy protests when some members on the apparently divided treasury benches objected to the opposition proposal first made by Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) alliance's Liaquat Baloch and later backed also by members from the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD).

Some ruling coalition members, including former speaker and PML-J faction chief Hamid Nasir Chathha and PML-Z chief Ejazul Haq, supported the opposition move after the speaker asked for their advice.

While Production and Industries Minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi and Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Chaudhry Noraiz Shakoor Khan wanted the house to wait for the foreign minister's presence in the house, PPP-Patriots parliamentary group leader Sher Afgan Niazi asked the speaker to reject the opposition move, only to invite opposition shouts of "lota, lota" for being a PPP turncoat.

The speaker's decision to agree with the government's point of view to defer the matter and go ahead with the question hour was greeted with protest slogans and cries of "shame, shame" before the opposition left of the house.

PPP's Shah Mahmood Qureshi angrily said "this house should better close down" if it could not discuss issues like Sheikh Yassin's murder and the latest military operations near the Wana town of the South Waziristan tribal agency.

Opposition members also chanted "Wana, Wana" in chorus. "Wana is burning and (President) Musharraf is playing with fiddle," shouted PML-N member from Sialkot, Khawaja Mohammad Asif.