ISLAMABAD, July 22: The National Assembly on Thursday was adjourned till Friday morning after an exchange of harsh words between deputy speaker Sardar Yaqub Khan and Muttahida Majlis-i- Amal's deputy parliamentary leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed when the latter pointed out a lack of quorum.

Counting was ordered after the acrimonious exchange and the house was adjourned without any announcement about the number of members sitting in the lower house.

The verbal clash occurred after members of the opposition retreated and huddled together in their lobbies and sent in Hafiz Hussain Ahmed to point out the lack of quorum after the assembly session resumed after the Maghrib prayers.

The assembly 's sound system remained suspended for some time as the house witnessed an unprecedented war of words between the chair and the MMA leader.

When Hafiz Hussain was ignored by the chair, he kept shouting: "Mr deputy speaker, you are running the house which is without quorum, please order a counting of the number (of members sitting at the moment)."

The deputy speaker apparently disregarded the calls pointing out the lack of quorum for quite some time which infuriated the MMA leader who started shouting: "Mr speaker, you can't run the house without quorum."

The deputy speaker also lost his temper and uttered some harsh - and even some objectionable - words to the MMA MNA besides threatening to "fix him up" for his untoward attitude.

Mr Hussain also called on the assembly staff to start counting of the heads which also went unheard.

Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, in the meantime, reached the podium and continued pressing for the counting of quorum in a loud voice and received back equally harsh words from the chair.

Meanwhile, Khurshid Shah and Syed Naveed Qamar of the People's Party Parliamentarians persuaded him to retreat towards his seat.

By then, the deputy speaker had ordered a head count and immediately ordered the adjournment till 10am on Friday after he was told that the house lacked quorum of 87 members.

Earlier, giving a policy statement, parliamentary finance secretary Omar Ayub said that implementation on the Zarai Taraqiati Bank's special agricultural package announced by President Gen Pervez Musharraf had been started from Thursday.

He said that relevant notification had been issued and no farmer would be arrested under the ZTBL orders.

Concession in this regard include the lowering of interest rate on farm loans from 14 per cent to nine per cent and waiving of interest on small loans.

He said that small farmers in Balochistan would be able to get loans amounting to Rs700,000 while those of other provinces would be able to acquire loans amounting to Rs500,000.

Earlier, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, on a point of order, invited the attention of the house towards a protest march by some newsmen outside the assembly against the stoppage of advertisements of a newspaper.