LAHORE, March 27: Opposition parties have decided to expedite their campaign against the Legal Framework Order (LFO) both within and outside the parliament.

PML-N acting president MNA Javed Hashmi said that proceedings of the parliament would never be smooth as long as the government did not come to terms with the Opposition on the issue.

Talking to reporters at a select gathering of politicians and columnists at the residence of ARD deputy information secretary Munir Ahmad Khan here on Thursday, he said public meetings and processions would be organized on the issue to force the government to place constitutional amendments before elected representatives.

Mr Hashmi said the government did not want to take the LFO to the parliament for it was afraid of the control the exiled leadership of the PML-N and the PPP still had over their respective parties despite the creation of factions.

Asked if the MMA was taking into confidence the other opposition parties over its talks with the PML-Q on the LFO, he said the Opposition had formed a steering committee, which would be informed about the “practicable” suggestions of the government on the issue, he added.

Asked if the PML-N agreed to the MMA proposal that Gen Pervez Musharraf should be accepted as president if he resigned from the post of army chief, Mr Hashmi said the question would arise at the time of election of the president.

However, he hastened to add that his party would not accept Gen Musharraf as the president whether he resigned as the COAS or not.

About indecision among the opposition parties over the office of the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, he said it was not a new development. Opposition leaders in the 1970 and 1988 assemblies had also been selected seven to eight months after the establishment of the parliament, he added.

Answering a question, he blamed NA Speaker Chaudhry Amir Husain for violation of an agreement with the opposition over the last NA session, which had been convened to pass a resolution against the US invasion of Iraq.

The session, requisitioned by the Opposition, was prorogued by the speaker for want of quorum on the second day even though it had reportedly been decided that it would continue for four days.

Mr Hashmi claimed that the Treasury and the Opposition had agreed in the presence of the speaker that no one would point out the quorum during the debate on Iraq crisis. “But, a treasury member pointed out the lack of quorum, and the speaker wasted no time in proroguing the session,” he regretted.