ISLAMABAD: On a day parliament should have recalled Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s violent death in Pakistan, the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N staged another noisy protest in the National Assembly on Wednesday to keep up its campaign against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

In the din of shouting and desk-thumping that began at the start of the question hour and marred the entire evening sitting, both the government and opposition ignored the first anniversary of the May 2 US commando raid that killed the world’s most wanted man at his Abbottabad hideout.

That event, which deeply soured decades-old Pakistan-US relations and a Pakistani inquiry commission report which has taken too long to come, found no mention also during a simultaneous sitting of the Senate in an adjacent hall, although the PML-N protest there was only a mild walkout as part of a party campaign to force Mr Gilani to resign from his office after his conviction last week by a Supreme Court bench.

In the National Assembly, PML-N lawmakers, not joined by smaller opposition groups, staged almost a repeat of their last noisy show on Monday, shouting “go Gilani, go” while standing in their seats, thumping desks, displaying placards bearing hostile slogans, and throwing up torn papers, though this time they took their protest too close to the stage and the treasury benches.

Defying repeated calls from Speaker Fehmida Mirza to maintain order and “dignity of parliament”, some protesters went ahead to occupy the steps of the stage below the speaker’s chair, crowded the desk of the prime minister -- who was not present -- and even stood in front of one row of ministerial benches.

Some PML-N members repeatedly placed cardboard placards bearing “go Gilani, go” slogan on the prime minister’s desk, only to be immediately grabbed and torn up either by Water and Power Minister Naveed Qamar or another member of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) sitting next to him at the time.

When a woman lawmaker of the PML-N thumped at the prime minister’s desk, a PPP woman pushed her away and herself sat in the prime minister’s chair, before placing her bag there as a warning against any protester daring to occupy it.

While the protesters punctuated their anti-Gilani chants with unintelligible booing, some thought of displaying a childhood skill by turning torn pages from printed questions and answers into paper aeroplanes, which they darted at treasury benches but which would hardly reach there.

Significantly, opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan kept himself away from the shouting contingent, but, like a commander, watched its performance from a far-away back bench, though he came a few rows forward after a break for Maghrib prayers.

A few party members appeared disinterested, including former journalist Ayaz Amir who sat quiet in his seat and Rashid Akbar Niwani who left the house while his party colleagues kept on shouting.

The treasury benches kept their calm, as they had done in the last sitting on Monday, and transacted some legislative business, including introduction of some private bills, though two bills about child rights and domestic violence were deferred to accommodate objections from the opposition Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, which did not join the PML-N protest, before the house was adjourned until 10am on Thursday.

One bill introduced by PPP’s Khurram Jahangir Wattoo seeks to amend the Defence Act of 1903 to allow residents of border areas to cut trees on their private lands without seeking permission from the army or Rangers.

Another bill moved by Kishwar Zehra of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement seeks to provide for re-enactment of law relating to employment, rehabilitation and welfare of disabled persons, and one of Riaz Fatyana of Pakistan Muslim League-Q seeks an amendment to the Political Parties Order of 2002.

Some bills standing in the names of PML-N members were not moved by their authors because of their protest.