The PML-Q decision was taken at a meeting of the party elders, Senators and MNAs held at the residence of Chaudhry Shujaat Husain here on Sunday. — File Photo

LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Q has decided to boycott the joint session of parliament which will be addressed by President Asif Ali Zardari, while the Pakistan Muslim League-N plans to attend the session, brandishing copies of court judgment “against” Mr Zardari and reports of his foreign assets and bank accounts.

The PML-Q decision was taken at a meeting of the party elders, Senators and MNAs held at the residence of Chaudhry Shujaat Husain here on Sunday.

“The boycott decision comes against the backdrop of the release of Raymond Davis, increase in US drone attacks, raise in taxes and the government’s disregard for problems of the masses,” the party’s information secretary Kamil Ali Agha told newsmen after the meeting.

Chaudhry Shujaat has started contacting leaders of various parliamentary parties to frame a joint strategy.

The first contact in this respect had been made with JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman whom Chaudhry Shujaat called after the meeting, while efforts were being made to approach MQM leader Altaf Hussain.

A source in the PML-Q said that the failure of the PPP leadership to meet promises had forced the party to change its policy of being soft on the federal government.

He said that President Asif Ali Zardari had given certain assurances about the case of Moonis Elahi, the son of former Punjab chief minister and senior Q-League leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, but these did not materialise.

Rather, the PPP leadership attempted to blackmail the Chaudhrys by “feeding misleading information regarding foreign assets and bank accounts of Mr Moonis to the media”, he alleged.

“The leadership thinks that the arrest and media trial of Moonis has left nothing else to lose in the political game so it has decided to take head on PPP elements who are conspiring against the Q-League,” he said.A PML-N MNA told Dawn that the party had decided to give a tough time to President Zardari during his address to the joint parliament session as a response to PPP’s policy in Punjab assembly.

He said copies of court judgments, especially in the NRO case, against the president and other PPP leaders as well as details of the PPP co-chairperson’s foreign assets would be waved in the house during the speech.

A decision about raising slogans and thumping of desks would be taken shortly before the March 22 sitting of the house, he added.