ISLAMABAD, July 26: Former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali sat amidst opposition members as he attended the National Assembly session for the first time on Monday after leaving the capital last month following his resignation.

There was no immediate explanation why Mr Jamali preferred to be in the opposition company as long as he remained in the house during the evening sitting, and whether he would be allotted a front-bench seat with other colleagues of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML).

The former premier went straight towards the opposition benches as if he was magnetized by opposition desk-thumping cheers that seemed warmer than those from his own ruling coalition as he entered the hall about ten minutes before the start of the proceedings.

However, several members of the ruling coalition, including some ministers, went over to meet Mr Jamali. Prominent opposition members who talked to Mr Jamali included PML-N's Tehmina Daultana and Chaudhry Abid Sher Ali and Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri and Asadullah Bhutto of the MMA.

Later, treasury MNAs Omar Ayub Khan, Sher Afgan Niazi, Aamir Liaquat Hussain and Malik Amin Aslam also shook hands with him. Some of the members also posed for photographs with Mr Jamali in the assembly hall.

While Mr Jamali was busy chatting with the members, speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain entered the hall. Mr Jamali, who had a seat next to Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain during the vote of confidence, went straight to the benches on the left side of the speaker which have been allocated mainly to opposition members and sat there with Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chief Imran Khan and Abdul Rauf Mengal of the Balochistan National Party.