Pak parliament meets amid fears of showdown

Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz is due to present the first budget of Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali's eight-month-old government amid threats from Islamic and secular opposition parties they will block its passage.

Jamali's government was elected in October after Musharraf's three-year military rule. But the election resulted in a hung parliament which has so far failed to conduct serious legislative business because a political tussle between the opposition and Jamali's coalition government has made parliament unworkable.

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Unprecedented pandemonium marred the house in April when opposition members created rowdy scenes by chanting "Go Musharraf go."

Female members joined firebrand Islamic clerics of the six-party Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) in the opposition's denunciation of Musharraf's unilateral constitutional amendments.

Musharraf seized power in a military coup in 1999 and declared himself president two years later. He has since extended his term as president -- as well as army chief -- until 2007 and given himself the power to dissolve parliament.

Amid fears of a showdown, the combined opposition said it would devise its strategy for the budget at a meeting ahead of the afternoon session Saturday.