20 May 2004	Thursday	29 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

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ISLAMABAD, May 19: PPP Parliamentary leader in Senate Raza Rabbani has announced that the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) will oppose the nomination of Maulana Fazlur Rehman as the Leader of the Opposition.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, the PPP senator termed the reported decision of the government a violation of rules and parliamentary traditions. Mr Rabbani criticized the statement of the National Assembly deputy speaker and asked him to read carefully Rule 2 of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, 1992.

The Rule 2, he said, clearly defined the Leader of the Opposition as a "member who, in the opinion of the speaker, is for the time being leader of the majority of the members in the opposition."

The speaker, Mr Rabbani claimed, in a departure from tradition had called upon the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) to show members in support of Makhdoom Amin Fahim as the opposition leader.

"The ARD sent a letter, signed by 80 members, while the MMA could muster the support of only 68 members in favour of Maulana Fazlur Rehman," the PPP leader asserted. He challenged the argument of the speaker that the MMA was a single parliamentary group as it had contested elections on one symbol. The rule, he tary group.

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