ISLAMABAD, Oct 15: The National Assembly session on Friday was marred by the combined opposition's slogan-chanting protests, lack of quorum and then a boycott of the proceedings.
The opposition followed it up with a sit-in outside the parliament house.
The opposition legislators also hinted at resigning their assembly seats as a last resort in their struggle "to end the military's control over democracy". Chief of Pakistan Awami Tehrik Dr Tahirul Qadri galvanized the opposition by announcing that he was quitting the assembly seat.
Rising on a point of order in the middle of the proceedings, he said the support he had extended to Gen Pervez Musharraf in the hope he would honour his promises of transparency in governance turned out to be a great mistake. Instead, he said, he found that the president tried to grab more and more power and wanted to continue to control both the government and the army.
"I cannot sit in a house which has been made a rubber stamp by a general in uniform. I feel it insulting to be sitting with those who have cut off their hands by passing the bill yesterday," he said.
It was a unique assembly in the world which had sacrificed its independence at the altar of the army chief, he remarked. At the end of his emotional speech, the angry MNA tried to hand over his resignation to the speaker but opposition leaders surrounded him and prevented him from doing that, almost dragging him out of the house.
Coming out of the assembly hall, the opposition parties declared they were determined to launch a decisive movement to oust the military-controlled government and to restore the constitution and sovereignty of parliament.
The combined opposition, comprising the ARD, MMA and some smaller groups, had chalked out its strategy in a joint parliamentary party meeting in the lobbies of the parliament house before the start of the session.
As soon as the day's proceedings began, Raja Parvez Ashraf of the PPP Parliamentarians stood up on a point of order and questioned Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain's moral and legal authority to preside over the session when a no-confidence motion had been brought against him.
The speaker summarily ruled the objection out of order and asked the member concerned to cite any rule which barred him from chairing the assembly sitting. Raja Parvez instead pointed to the lack of quorum as only a small number of treasury and opposition members had arrived in the house by then. The speaker ordered a count and then adjourned the house for half an hour.
When the proceedings resumed, the opposition members returned wearing black armbands. Then, almost on a cue, they gathered around the speaker's rostrum and started raising slogans, "Go Musharraf, go" and "No Musharraf, no".
The speaker, however, continued to conduct the question hour proceedings amid the protests. Later, the opposition walked out of the house en block and gathered at the main gate of the parliament house where they made anti-Musharraf speeches.
The exit gates of the parliament house remained blocked for vehicular traffic for some time. President of MMA Qazi Hussain Ahmed said: "The combined opposition has decided to launch a movement as it was not ready to allow the army's supremacy over parliamentary system.
All of us may decide to resign our assembly seats but till then we all must remain united." As long as the president remained in uniform, he said, the opposition would think the country was under martial law.
He added: "We are trying to persuade Dr Qadri not to tender his resignation at this stage, since the opposition has to adopt a unified strategy to counter the disgrace of parliament and the constitution."
Tahirul Qadri told reporters that although opposition members had prevented him from handing over his resignation to the speaker he was not ready to return to the house and might send it by other means.
He said he had supported General Musharraf because of his promise that he will eradicate conspiratorial politics. Instead, he alleged, the president himself was involved in conspiracies.
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the acting president and parliamentary leader of PML (N), said the opposition had many options under consideration and resigning from the assembly collectively at some stage was one of them.
He, however, said the opposition kept in mind what he called the 'deceitful' regime which might bring people of its choice through rigged by-polls if its (opposition's) lawmakers tendered resignations.
He lashed out at President Musharraf for what he called his attempt to make parliament his 'handmaiden'. He alleged that the powers which had occupied Iraq and Afghanistan, by using brute force, had established a government of their choice in Pakistan without a drop of blood being shed.
MMA's deputy parliamentary leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said the alliance in its Quetta meeting had decided to launch a mass mobilization campaign by holding big rallies during Ramazan, but the hasty steps of Gen Musharraf had united the entire opposition.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi of the PPP Parliamentarians said there was no justification for President Musharraf to keep the COAS office after getting the controversial 17th amendment passed.
He said: "We wanted to keep our democratic struggle within the parliament house but we have been forced to go to the people by these acts." A group of PPP Parliamentarians' female MNAs later staged a sit-in on the Constitution Avenue for about half an hour during which police diverted the traffic.
Addressing the gathering, Raja Parvez Ashraf said the undemocratic attitude of Gen Musharraf had forced the people's elected representatives to come to the road. Khawja Saad Rafiq of PML(N), Rauf Mengal of BNP, Naheed Khan of PPP Parliamentarians and Maulana Rahmatullah of MMA also spoke on the occasion.
