LAHORE, June 16: The joint opposition in the Punjab Assembly will boycott debate on the budget to show solidarity with the opposition in the National Assembly and in protest against the LFO.

It will also hold a press conference daily after boycotting the assembly session.

MMA MPA Chaudhry Shaukat Ali said they would not rejoin the proceedings even if the government sent a team to bring them back to the house.

After boycotting the budget session on Saturday, combined opposition leader Qasim Zia had alleged in his press conference that President Pervez Musharraf did not want to resolve the LFO issue, and each time the government and the opposition were about to reach a settlement on it, he sabotaged the efforts.

He said the protest by the joint opposition in the provincial assembly was to express solidarity with the opposition in the National Assembly. He said if the LFO had nothing to do with the provinces, why a resolution was passed in favour of it and the uniform (of the president) by the Punjab Assembly.

He, however, was convinced that all controversial issues should be solved through talks. He said the opposition was always ready to sit on the negotiation table, but it was the government that backed out every time on one pretext or the other.

He claimed that Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali was scheduled to meet the joint opposition, but the president issued a statement that there was no need for talks.