ISLAMABAD, June 12: Opposition parties walked out of both the National Assembly and the Senate on Saturday to protest against the military operation in the North Waziristan agency before the budget for the fiscal year 2004-05 was presented.

The Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal staged separate token walkouts from the National Assembly just before Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz unveiled the budget in the evening.

Later, the MMA and the Democratic Front staged similar walkouts as the Senate met at night for the tabling of the budget there.

Opposition members in both the houses called for a halt to the operation against alleged militants near Wana and a resumption of dialogue to settle the matter.

In identical speeches in the National Assembly and the Senate, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said the operation, backed by artillery and helicopters, was aimed at "foreign terrorists and their protectors" and not the local tribal population.

He said the action was necessitated by the violation of an agreement under which the foreign militants should have surrendered in return for a government pledge to let them live there peacefully.

The minister said attacks like the two assassination attempts against President Gen Pervez Musharraf in December and Thursday's ambush in Karachi on the army corps commander's convoy had links with militants hiding in South Waziristan.

He described the Wana operation as part of the government's campaign against terrorism as a member of the international coalition against terror.

"It is a conscious decision of the government to take the war on terrorism to its logical conclusion," the minister said in the Senate, where one opposition member called for his resignation for the government's alleged failure to maintain law and order in the country.

In the National Assembly, where it was the second day of opposition protests on the issue, ARD Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim described the operation as a "war between people and army" and accused the government of failing to provide security to the people.

The government action was condemned by several other opposition members before the MMA and the ARD staged token walkouts, to return in time for the start of the finance minister's budget speech.

A pro-MMA independent member from South Waziristan, Maulana Merajuddin, complained of bombing by helicopters and jets and said: "This is becoming intolerable for us."

In the Senate, before the budget was laid on the table of the house, PPP parliamentary leader Raza Rabbani called for resignation by the finance minister for the government's failure to give a new National Finance Commission award.

The Senate must give its recommendations on the budget within seven days to the National Assembly, which is not bound to accept them.

After the budget presentation, both the houses were adjourned to meet on Tuesday.