ISLAMABAD, Aug 20: The country’s two main opposition alliances apparently put aside their recent mutual differences and stormed out of the National Assembly together on Wednesday to protest against the Legal Framework Order (LFO) at the start of a crucial session of the lower house.

Parliamentary leaders of both the ARD and the MMA later said they had reunited again on the one-point agenda of opposing the LFO that gives sweeping powers to President Pervez Musharraf.

This was the first time they spoke from the same platform since the two alliances parted company last month when the MMA opted to have separate — and so far abortive — talks with the government to settle differences over the LFO.

Members from both the alliances first blocked the proceedings by shouting “no, no” and thumping their desks immediately after the start of the session that the president summoned at short notice on Wednesday in a move to complete a mandatory calendar of business of the 342-seat house and take on a divided opposition.

But the protest — a far cry from their previous noisier protests against the LFO — lasted only a few minutes after which the opposition members walked out, allowing the ruling coalition to complete a day’s full agenda for the first time since the National Assembly’s election last October.

The opposition’s absence also enabled the ruling coalition to conduct some token legislative business before the speaker adjourned the house until 9.30am on Friday.

The National Assembly must meet for 82 days more to fulfil a constitutional requirement that it must remain in session for at least 130 days in a year.

The brief opposition furore started as soon as a ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q member from Attock district, Malik Amin Aslam, rose on the point of order to praise what he called a “bold statement” by President Musharraf during a visit to the area on Tuesday that the government would build the controversial Kalabagh dam as well as Bhasha dam over the river Indus.

“Take your seats or I will have to run the house like this,” the speaker angrily told the opposition members as they ignored his calls to let Mr Aslam speak.

His remark seemed only to hasten the opposition boycott with People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) chief Amin Fahim leading members from the ARD, which also includes the PML-N, while MMA members were led out by prominent alliance leaders Liaqat Baloch and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed.

Most opposition members wore new badges reading “Amriyat Murdabad” (down with dictatorship) that replaced previous badges of “No LFO, no” and “Go Musharraf, go” — that were also the usual opposition chants in their previous protests which had until now paralyzed both houses of parliament.

MMA parliamentary leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed and the alliance secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rehman were not present in the session, which the MMA complained was called in haste due to which several of its members could not reach Islamabad.

A delegation of three ministers sent by speaker Amir Hussain to try to persuade the opposition to return to the house returned empty-handed as it failed to talk to opposition leaders who were then busy explaining their position at an impromptu news conference at the parliament house cafeteria.

“We went to them and they were busy making speeches,” PML-Q chief whip and Labour and Manpower Minister Abdul Sattar Laleka said as he informed the speaker about the failure of his delegation, which also included Information and Broadcasting Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and minister of state for parliamentary affairs Mohammad Raza Hayat Harraj.

Mr Laleka also lamented the fact that there was still no leader of opposition in the house, a position for which both the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) have made rival claims.

In the first legislative business of the session, Mr Harraj laid before the house three recently promulgated presidential ordinances — the Removal from Service (Special Powers) (Second Amendment) Ordinance, the Federal Public Service Commission (Amendment) Ordinance and the Contempt of Court Ordinance.

He also introduced two bills put on the agenda — the Insurance (Amendment) Bill seeking to amend the Insurance Ordinance, 2000 and the Drugs (Amendment) Bill seeking to amend the Drugs Act, 1976. No details of the two bills were immediately available.

On a move by Federal Education Minister Zobaida Jalal, the National Assembly elected three of its members — Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Riaz Fatyana and Donyal Aziz — as members of the Islamabad-based Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) for a term of three years as required under act governing the board.

Earlier, on a suggestion from Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Kanwar Khalid Younis and some other members, the house prayed for the souls of at least 17 people killed by a massive truck bomb in Baghdad on Tuesday.

It also prayed for the souls of those killed in recent floods and sectarian violence in the country and three judges killed in a gunfight between police and prisoners in Sialkot jail.

To complete the last item on the agenda, parliamentary secretary for cabinet division Ali Sajid Malhi explained relief measures taken by the government to help flood-hit people in Sindh and Balochistan provinces.