All but two parties oppose bills on services chiefs.

ISLAMABAD -- The tabling of three bills on the appointment and tenures of the services chiefs and its approval from a meeting of the Senate and National Assembly Standing committees on defences offered a rare show of agreement between the government and opposition.

Now that the bill is ripe for its passage from the lower house of parliament next week, the opposition parties have promised their support for the legislation-except for two religio-political parties - Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

'We are willing to support the legislation if the government follows parliamentary procedures,' Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the PPP Chairman, said. Talking to the reporters at the Parliament House, he described tabling of the bill in the National Assembly a 'victory for his party'.

The PPP chief said that his party had 50 votes in the National Assembly, hence, he could not influence 'even a comma or a full stop', but was averse to the idea of the way the government and the PML-N wanted to proceed ahead on the legislation.

'The PML-N did not take the opposition into confidence before offering the government their unconditional support,' he said. 'I think this should have not happened in this way. It is the responsibility of the opposition leader to unite the opposition.'

Bilawal described it a 'small victory' for his party that the government was not bulldozing the legislation and was instead following parliamentary rules in this regard. 'If important bills are passed without following the parliament's procedure it will set a bad precedent for the future,' he said.

He also expressed his surprise that the government brought the three bills in pursuance of the Supreme Court's verdict on the army chief's extension, despite challenging the November 28 ruling in the apex court. He hoped this contradiction would be removed after the passage of this bill.

'I am still a little confused on what the actual stance of the government is? The government has also challenged the Supreme Court's order through its review petition which on its face looks like a contradiction to me.'

The government hailed the opposition's support and cooperation. 'This is an important step towards civilian supremacy and it has...