ISLAMABAD, April 23: The cause for judiciary’s independence resounded loudly, but briefly, in the National Assembly on Monday before the speaker cut short the opening day of a much delayed session amid opposition walkouts against a government bid to block a debate on the prevailing judicial crisis in the country.

Several opposition members sought to discuss President Pervez Musharraf’s controversial move to suspend Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and the reference sent to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), but two government ministers opposed the move, saying that under the rules, a sub judice matter could not be discussed in the house.

Opposition members had raised the matter through points of order that the speaker said he would allow to keep the atmosphere of the house congenial.

The opposition chanted the slogans ‘Adliya ki azadi tak, jang challegi, jang challegi’ (struggle will go on until the independence of the judiciary) and ‘go Musharraf go’ repeatedly before storming out of the house in protest. Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain adjourned the house after the walkout until 5pm on Tuesday after only about an hour’s proceedings.

Opposition members protested against the move to block the debate by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Khan Niazi and Law Minister Mohammad Wasi Zafar, and some also accused the speaker of scuttling the opposition move. "Go speaker go," some shouted from the opposition benches.

Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan of the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP), who also heads the panel of Justice Chaudhry’s lawyers before the five-member SJC, led the opposition’s case for a debate, mainly on the ground that the matter was not sub judice, because according to him, the SJC was only an inquiry tribunal and not a court of law.

The opposition has every right to raise issues regarding the stages of the presidential move that are outside the SJC’s purview, such as Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's motivation for advising the president to file a reference against the chief justice, he said.

“Tomorrow we can even bring a no-confidence motion against him on this issue,” Mr Ahsan said, adding that even ruling party members could take the prime minister to task for causing a crisis in the country.

Mr Niazi, who has kept a low profile since the reference was filed on March 9, said that while the SJC was no less than a court of law, matters about the reference had been challenged before the Supreme Court as well to make "all this sub judice".

But before any ruling could come from the chair, the opposition groups began staging walkouts, starting with the PPP, followed by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) and the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), to protest against what they called the government move to avoid a debate, detention of opposition activists in connection with demonstrations held in support of the chief justice and alleged moves against a protest planned for Tuesday to coincide with the sixth appearance of the chief justice before the SJC in Islamabad.

Mr Ahsan, during his speech earlier, had accused the ruling PML party of bringing people to Islamabad, mainly from PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain's home district of Gujrat, to hold a pro-government demonstration on Tuesday and voiced fears that such a move could cause a clash.

“The way we are being stopped from talking about a national issue, threats being given to us... and the refusal to debate on whether the SJC is a court or not has forced us to stage a token walkout,” PPP secretary general Raja Pervez Ashraf said before leading his party members out of the house.

MMA’s Liaqat Baloch said his alliance was boycotting the proceedings to protest against what he called the government tactics to foil Tuesday's opposition protests.