ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: Treasury members in the Senate on Friday criticized the opposition for not participating in the proceedings of the house and asked the chairman to take action against them.

Soon after the opposition members had staged a walkout from the upper house following their usual desk-thumping and slogan raising, the ruling members took the floor and criticized the attitude of the opposition members.

Senator Kamil Ali Agha suggested to Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro not to grant leave of absence to the opposition members for staging walkouts.

He said on the one hand the opposition members were tabling call-attention notices and putting questions, on the other they were not taking part in the proceedings despite the fact that they remained present in the parliament house till the adjournment of sittings.

Senator Aneesa Zeb termed the opposition’s attitude harmful to democracy. She said most of the opposition members, who were protesting against Gen Pervez Musharraf and the LFO, had served presidents in uniform in the past. She said the opposition should realize that their protest was not in the interest of democracy.

Razzaq Thaheem asked the opposition members either to completely boycott the proceedings or actively take part in it. He urged the chairman to set this condition for the opposition members as their protest was against the norms of democracy.

Dr Khalid Ranjha said courts alone could interpret laws and the Constitution. He asked why the opposition was protesting when a superior court had already given its verdict on the uniform issue.

Mr Ranjha lashed out at the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal for adopting “duplicity” in their policies. Elaborating, the senator said the MMA leaders had stated that they had accepted the LFO except for only two clauses. But, he added, their behaviour in the house and in the talks with the government was contradictory.

Earlier, soon after recitation from the Holy Quran, opposition senator from Balochistan Sanaullah Baloch criticized the ‘rulers’ for governing the country under “the presidential system”. He said the rulers were not ready to accept the sovereignty of parliament, thus weakening the parliamentary system.

Kamil Ali Agha, a treasury member, said the opposition members were talking about the “looters” who were sitting outside the country. At this, the opposition members walked out of the house.

Leader of the House Wasim Sajjad requested the opposition members to take part in the proceedings.

He said the opposition was criticizing the government for a three-month delay in the Senate session and offered that the government was ready to run the Senate for three months at a stretch if the opposition cooperated.

He said since the opposition was not participating in the proceedings it had no right to criticize the government for not calling the session earlier.

Senator Nisar Memon said Sanaullah Baloch had raised a sensitive issue reminding the house of the 1971-like situation which, he added, needed to be discussed.

Later, Senator Shahzad Wasim tabled a resolution on President Gen Musharraf’s US visit.