LAHORE, Sept 13: Amid opposition walkout, the Punjab Assembly on Monday adopted with a majority vote a resolution urging Gen Pervez Musharraf to continue keeping the office of president and army chief simultaneously.

Opposing the resolution, opposition leader Qasim Zia regretted that the leader of the house was engaged in protecting uniform of the army ruler instead of protecting people's rights.

He said the opposition was ready to extend a helping hand to the treasury if the latter dissociated itself from serving army generals. Mr Zia alleged that the chief minister was telling those who had made him (the chief minister) how to remain in power.

He said the house should have instead passed a resolution that only public representatives could become president and prime minister of the country. As law minister Raja Basharat took the floor to speak on the resolution, the opposition benches started shouting. The minister urged the opposition MPAs to hear the treasury like the latter had heard the former.

Before reading out the resolution, he said all those present in the house were obliged to Gen Musharraf for their status. He said Gen Musharraf's policies had put the country on the path of progress and enhanced its prestige in the comity of nations.

Deputy opposition leader Rana Sanaullah said the resolution was against the Constitution and amounted to subverting it. He said neither Gen Musharraf nor Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto were indispensable for the country.

He wondered as to why the government, which had implemented the entire 17th Amendment, was reluctant to submit to its portion that desired shedding of uniform by Gen Musharraf on Dec 31, 2004.

He said inciting someone to commit an offence was also a crime and that was what the government was doing through this resolution. Parliamentary secretary for parliamentary affairs Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan claimed that defence services did not come under services of Pakistan and thus the clause 41/2 did not apply on army officers.

MMA deputy parliamentary leader Dr Waseem Akhtar contradicted him, saying the armed forces also came under the purview of the Constitution. He recalled that after successful talks on the 17th amendment Gen Musharraf had promised in his address to the nation that he would doff his uniform before Dec 31.

Leader of house Pervaiz Elahi criticized his political rivals' attitude. He said they had contested elections under the army general and were ruling the NWFP and Balochistan provinces accepting him as president-in-uniform but were now speaking against the same uniform.

He announced that the uniform issue would be settled within the bounds of the Constitution. Later, the house adopted the resolution with a voice vote as the opposition MPAs staged a walkout.