ISLAMABAD, June 17: The entire opposition, comprising ARD, MMA and other groups, staged a combined walk-out from the National Assembly on Thursday evening to protest at the targeted killing of PPP leader Munawar Hussain Suharwardy in Karachi and boycotted the rest of the session.

Before the walk-out, opposition members made some spirited speeches condemning the murder and demanding a high-level inquiry, arrest of the culprits and replacing the Sindh governor with what they said a non-partisan man.

A total of 36 MNAs from the PPP Parliamentarians, PML-N, MMA and smaller groups spoke in the assembly to vent their sentiments against the killing. From the treasury side, the interior minister responded to opposition's allegations, while Muttahida's parliamentary leader Farooq Sattar and some other MNAs also spoke to condemn the murder.

Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said the government had investigated and dug out culprits in many cases. It would also unearth the murder conspiracy of Suhrwardy as well, he said.

Earlier, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, parliamentary leader of the PPP Parliamentarians, termed June 17 another black day for Karachi where Suhrwardy was slain in the presence of thousands of people in broad daylight.

This target killing, he was of the opinion, was to give a message to other opposition politicians that their life was insecure in Karachi. He said a major cause of terrorist strikes in the city was the unhindered inflow of illegal weapons and their supply under a home delivery system.

Leader of the opposition Maulana Fazlur Rahman kept his cool while condemning the murder, but MMA parliamentary leader and acting president Qazi Hussain Ahmed directly held the Sindh governor responsible for the target killings.

A special cell was working in the Governor's House for planning the murder of various religious and political leaders, he alleged. Farooq Sattar regretted and condemned Qazi Hussain Ahmed's direct reference to the Muttahida in the murder of the PPP leader.

It was not correct to say that only opposition leaders/workers were slain in Karachi, he said and named a number of Muttahida leaders who had recently become victim of terrorist attacks.

Mr Farooq termed the murder of Suhrwardy part of a big conspiracy to discourage investment in Karachi and to make the city insecure. He said the slain PPP leader was his personal friend who played the role of a bridge between the Muttahida and the PPP.

His murder was a handiwork of a bunch of terrorists who must be found out and punished, he said. The MNA said the governor represented the president in the province, and accusing him of masterminding murders was blaming the president for supervising these heinous acts.

During the speech of Dr Sattar, MMA lawmaker Asadullah Bhutto came in to point out lack of quorum in the house. Deputy Speaker Sardar Mohammad Yaqub, presiding over the sitting, ordered counting of the members present. But when the counting began, the treasury members, who did not complete the quorum of 87, started shouting towards the chair, saying that a member boycotting the session could not point out the quorum.

The chair ruled that any member of the house can point out the quorum. He, however, came under so much pressure that he finally allowed Dr Sattar to resume his speech without making any announcement about the counting.

Prominent among those who took part in the discussion were: Naveed Qureshi, Syed Khurshid Shah, Tehmina Daultana, Saad Rafiq, Mohammad Hussain Mehnati, Aqil Khan, Chaudhry Manzoor, Sherry Rahman, Qamar Zaman, Fauzia Wahab, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Pir Aftab Shah Jilani, Mehrin Anwar Raja Sahibzada Fazal Karim, Rauf Mengal, Qari Gul Rahman, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, Kishan Bheel and Qari Fayyaz Alvi.