ISLAMABAD, Dec 6: Senators of opposition parties boycotted a lunch hosted by caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro at the Prime Minister’s secretariat on Thursday.

Leader of Opposition in the Senate Raza Rabbani told Dawn that it was a unanimous decision of all opposition parties not to attend the luncheon meeting with the prime minister who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order.

Mr Rabbani said that they had been attending functions arranged earlier by Mr Soomro in his capacity as the Senate chairman, but now the situation had changed because he was holding a controversial office.

He said the decision the decision was taken in consultation with MMA’s Prof Khurshid Ahmed, PML(N)’s Ishaq Dar and members of other opposition parties.

PML secretary-general Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed told Dawn that three opposition Senators Talha Mahmood, Saleh Shah and Maulana Samiul Haq attended the lunch.

Commenting on Mr Rabbani’s remarks about Mr Soomro, Mr Hussain said it indicated opposition’s ‘double standards’. He said the opposition had been demanding that President Pervez Musharraf should step down and the senate chairman should take over. “If Soomro was acceptable to them as acting president what is wrong in him being a caretaker prime minister,” he asked.

Meanwhile, Mr Soomro talking to a delegation of senators said the government was taking all necessary steps to create an environment for free, fair and transparent elections.

According to an official handout, Mr Soomro said the government was facilitating the Election Commission to allow people to elect their representatives in the national and provincial assemblies. The caretaker set-up would make every effort to ensure that the democratic process continued peacefully.