ISLAMABAD, April 11: The People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) sided with the government over women’s rights at a stormy start of a National Assembly session on Monday as the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) walked out in what seemed to be a widening of a gulf between the country’s major opposition forces. While the PPP members spoke and voted for a government-sponsored resolution to condemn a recent attack by religious activists on a mixed sporting event in Gujranwala, the party’s main ally Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) joined the walkout to protest against the arrest of an MMA member for allegedly leading the April 3 assault.

PPP members, led by its president Makhdoom Amin Fahim, stayed seated although a party leader, Aitzaz Ahsan, said that despite differences with the MMA’s move the PPP supported its demand that its arrested member be produced before the house.

The government seemed happy at the growing differences between moderate and hardline opposition parties, but opposition sources said there was no immediate threat to the 17-party Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) that PPP leads with the PML-N.

Angry shouts and threatening speeches marked the proceedings after the MMA sought to move privilege motions over the arrest of Maulana Qazi Hamidullah, whom the government accuses of leading the violent attack by hundreds of activists to disrupt a mini-marathon race of men and women at Gujranwala and plans to try him under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

But MMA secretary-general and leader of opposition Maulana Fazlur Rehman and some other members of the alliance told Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain that they would not move their motions unless he ordered the presence of the arrested member in the house.

They also called for a similar production order for jailed PML-N acting president Javed Hashmi.

In the absence of a positive response from the chair and following a harsh speech by Law and Justice Minister Wasi Zafar, Maulana Fazl Rehman led the walkout, after threatening that the MMA would block any government moves to stage mixed sporting events of men and women.

“I want to tell the rulers that if you will bring young men and women for mixed races on the soil of Pakistan, we will block your path with the support of people,” he thundered in one of his rare speeches as the opposition leader.

The MMA and PML-N members did not return to the house during the remainder of the sitting while speakers from both the treasury and the PPP benches denounced the attack and called for a bold stand to protect women and their rights.

However, the speaker deferred a ruling on the MMA’s motion.

He referred to the house privileges committee a motion moved by Mr Amin Fahim and some other PPP members complaining about a reported State Bank circular to banks barring parliament members from becoming members of their boards and their alleged blacklisting for grant of loans and issuance of credit cards.

Speaking on the MMA’s move, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said the government would abide by law and would not let any group take the law in their own hands.

“Those taking the law in their own hands will be dealt with sternly,” he warned.

Law and Justice Minister Zafar, in a speech earlier, accused the MMA of bringing armed people from tribal areas for attacking the Gujranwala event and said: “I think this was a revolt against the state.”

The minister had also got involved in an angry exchange over the same issue with MMA’s Hafiz Hussain Ahmed during a house advisory committee meeting at the speaker’s chamber, parliamentary sources said.

Mr Aitzaz Ahsan criticized the “narrow-minded clergy” for opposing women’s rights and blamed the government for conceding to pressure from retrogressive elements on issues such as the blasphemy and Hudood laws and restoration of religion column in passports.

“If there had been no women in the Pakistan movement, by God, Pakistan would not have come into being,” he said.

PPP secretary-general Raja Pervez Ashraf accused the government of following double-standards as he complained against moves to block a party reception for Asif Ali Zardari on his arrival at Lahore from Dubai on April 16.

He said hundreds of PPP workers had already been detained and added: “When you block the path for democracy-lovers, extremism will come.”

After a unanimous passage of the resolution condemning the Gujranwala incident, the house was adjourned until 4pm on Tuesday.

The resolution, moved by PML member Mehnaz Rafi, called the Gujranwala attack a violation of women’s fundamental and constitutional rights and “a manifestation of terrorism and extremism”.

It said attempts to block healthy activities of women should be declared “terrorism” and stopped.