The combined opposition on Tuesday staged walkout from the Senate against the passage of bill allowing General Pervez Musharraf to keep both the offices of president and military chief after December 31.
Before they walked out of the House, the opposition senators termed the passage of the bill as "black chapter" of the country's history and vowed to continue their struggle against what they termed the 'authoritarian' rule both in and outside the Parliament.
Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) leader Mian Raza Rabbani on a point of order said: "As the government has passed a black law, the opposition would stage walkout from the Senate and our protest will continue until the bill is withdrawn."
On this, all the opposition members left the House and remained outside till Chairman Muhammedmian Soomro prorogued the session after almost an hour.
Later, speaking at a news conference, the opposition senators also repeated their pledge to carry forward their struggle against the 'military' rule in the country.
Speaking on a point of order at the outset of the sitting, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) Senator Professor Khurshid Ahmed said the government had lost its legitimacy and credibility by backing a 'dictator' through this bill.
He ruled out any possibility of dialogue with the government, as he thought the ruling coalition had betrayed the religious alliance on the 17th Amendment.
He called to put an immediate end to military role in politics once and for all and urged the democratic forces to wage a combined struggle in this regard.
"I think we all should join hands to end military intervention in politics for good and we must struggle to bury the theory of necessity deep," the MMA senator argued.
Referring to the statement of Musharraf about holding a public debate in media on different options to resolve Kashmir issue and clarifications by the government officials afterwards, he warned the authorities to avoid confusing the issue.
He proposed that any such debate on the issue must be held either in the Parliament or in special committee on Kashmir, as according to him, these were the proper platforms for this.
Earlier, on another point of order, Raza Rabbani said that the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) would repeal the 17th Amendment after raising into power.
Both Raza and Khurshid paid tributes to veteran lawyer and ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) Senator S.M. Zafar for his 'encouraging' remarks against the bill on Monday moments before its passage.
AGENDA LEFT: The House, which had 48 items on agenda for the day, could take only two motions. It also referred amendments in the Senate Rule to concerned committee.
As many as four motions, five resolutions and 27 private members' bills were left, as the House focussed on points of order raised by both the treasury and opposition legislators for almost two hours.
QUORUM POINTED OUT: At the outset of the proceedings, the House faced a 10-minute suspension, as MMA Senator Ismail Buledi pointed out quorum and the chair ordered rigging of bells for five minutes.
But the government safely negotiated the problem, as Leader of the House Wasim Sajjad successfully persuaded the opposition members in bringing them back to the House.
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