ISLAMABAD, Aug 29: Combined opposition in the National Assembly announced on Friday that it would change its nine-month-long protest strategy in the lower house against the Legal Framework Order to make it more proactive and forceful.

“Today was the last day of a historical phase of our protest which would be changed from Monday next to make it more forceful,” said Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, parliamentary leader of the ARD parliamentary group, while speaking at a news conference along with other opposition leaders at the assembly cafeteria after opposition parties’ walkout from the lower house session.

The PML-N acting president alleged that President Gen Pervez Musharraf wanted a permanent role for the army in the country’s politics which the nation would not allow.

He said the opposition might use the house proceedings like question hour and privilege and adjournment motions to articulate its protest.

“So far, the opposition has not allowed the government to run the house in a smooth manner and even sacrificed a number of motions moved by its own members,” Mr Hashmi asserted.

He described it as a great achievement of the combined opposition that despite its differences on some points of the LFO, it had shown an unprecedented unity on its one-point agenda and refused to part company despite all kinds pressure tactics used by the government.

He said during this phase of protest, the opposition also showed its willingness to enter into meaningful negotiations with the government because it believed in the democratic system and wanted to save it.