KARACHI, Nov 22: Opposition Leader in the Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and other members of opposition benches on Monday lodged strong protest with the acting speaker Rahila Tiwana for adjourning the house proceeding without any reason.

They went to her office and told her that the adjournment of the assembly proceeding was unfair. Mr Khuhro argued that there was no pandemonium or uproar in the house and, therefore, the adjournment was uncalled for.

He told Ms Tiwana that the opposition wanted to complete the business of the day and for this purpose, they had fully cooperated with the chair. Nor did the opposition members raise points of order unnecessarily, he added.

Later, talking to newsmen in his assembly building chamber, Mr Khuhro claimed that the chair's decision was, in fact, an act of favour to the treasury benches which, he alleged, were not interested in the proceedings.

Ms Tiwana, however, contended that under the relevant rules, she was empowered to adjourn the proceedings. Mr Khuhro told newsmen that that actually the MQM MPAs had come to the rescue of the CM's adviser on Health, Faisal Gabol, father-in-law of Altaf Hussain, and tried to waste the time.

The opposition leader, however, appreciated the role of the Senior Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed during the deliberations, pointing out that Mr Ahmed criticized certain members of the treasury side for raising unnecessary points of order. Mr Khuhro said that the members were not asking supplementary questions, rather they were just presenting their observations.

He said that at one stage, the chair also violated rules and procedures by allowing a minister to ask supplementary question. Under the rules, he added, ministers did not have the right to ask a question to another minister.

Mr Khuhro also dispelled the impression that Asif Ali Zardari's release was the outcome of any deal. He, nevertheless, congratulated the party's chairperson, Benazir Bhutto, and workers on the grant of bail to Asif Zardari. He declared that the ARD's struggle was on the issue of Gen Musharraf's uniform and for the restoration of real democracy and the Constitution.