ISLAMABAD, Aug 27: The combined opposition has decided to boycott the National Assembly session on Saturday in which prime minister-elect Shaukat Aziz will seek a vote of confidence, Dawn learnt on Friday.

Acting parliamentary leader of the PML-N Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, when contacted, said the opposition would boycott the National Assembly session on Saturday and most probably the members would not even go to the house.

Similarly, secretary-general of the People's Party Parliamentarians Raja Pervez Ashraf and deputy parliamentary leader of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said their parties had decided to boycott the confidence vote proceedings. However, they said, the strategy would be finalized at their respective parliamentary party meetings before the start of the session.

Both the ARD and the MMA leaders were of the view that there was no logic in taking part in the vote of confidence process after boycotting the election for the leader of the house.

However, they said, some opposition members wanted to stage a walkout from the house after registering their protest like they did on Friday, while there was a majority of those who wanted a complete boycott without even going to the assembly hall.

"We will decide tomorrow whether we should go to the assembly or not," said Raja Pervez Ashraf. The PPP MNA said Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain had become "partial" and the ARD was also considering an option to move a no-confidence motion against him.

"By not issuing production order of Mr Hashmi, the speaker has proved that he is not a custodian of the house," he said, adding, the speaker did not issue Mr Hashmi's production order as the government was afraid of his speech.

Inside sources in the PPP told Dawn that the decision to boycott the election of the prime minister on Friday was taken by the PML-N itself and the PPP had no role in this decision.

The sources said acting parliamentary leader of the PML-N Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had suggested that they should boycott the election as the speaker had not issued Mr Hashmi's production order.