QUETTA, Sept 19: The opposition in the Balochistan Assembly has decided to oppose a resolution expected to be tabled by the Pakistan Muslim League urging President Gen Pervez Musharraf to retain the post of army chief after Dec 31 and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal will take a decision in this regard on Monday.

Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party's parliamentary leader Abdur Rahim Ziaratwal said on Sunday that the opposition, including the PMAP, the Jamhoori Watan Party, the National Party, the Balochistan National Party (Mengal) and the People's Party Parliamentarians, would vote against the resolution.

He told Dawn that the opposition had 18 members and the MMA had the same number of MPAs in the house of 65, the PML and its ally BNP (Awami) had 28 members and independent member Nawabzada Balach Marri had not attended the session for a long time.

Mr Ziaratwal said the opposition and the MMA could defeat the resolution. He said he could not contact the MMA's provincial ministers by Sunday evening. However, an opposition member claimed that most of the MMA's members would abstain while a few of them would oppose the resolution under an alleged deal between the PML and the alliance. Senior Minister Maulana Abdul Wasay told this correspondent on Sunday that the MMA would meet on Monday to determine its strategy.