PESHAWAR: Things at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly continued to be at an impasse on Tuesday as the combined opposition boycotted the sitting for the second consecutive day.

Questions and call attention notices lapsed, while a bill about senior citizens was deferred due to the absence of the opposition.

The situation forced Speaker Asad Qaisar to adjourn the sitting till Friday after disposing of the agenda.The opposition has linked end of the boycott with the government`s unconditional apology for what it called the worst hooliganism in the assembly`s history on Oct 30.

The Speaker formed a five-member committee to convince the opposition to end boycott.

The committee members, including senior ministers Inayatullah Khan and Shahram Tarakai, law and parliamentary affairs minister Imtiaz Shahid, finance minister Muzafar Syed and information minister Mushtaq Ghani, are likely to meet opposition leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman and parliamentaryleaders of Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz, Qaumi Watan Party, Awami National Party and Pakistan People`s Party here on Tuesday night to end the standoff.

PPP parliamentary leader Syed Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha told Dawn that the opposition would end the assembly`s boycott only after the government tendered an unconditional apology for its rude behaviourin the house on October 30.

`Our only demand is that the government apologise for the impolite attitude of treasury members, including few ministers, especiallyuse of un-parliamentary language against opposition members,` he said.

The opposition boycotted the assembly`s sitting on Monday shortly after the session began.

Soon thereafter, Speaker Asad Qaisar sent ministers to the opposition members, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, the house was informed that the impending move to wind up the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Initiative by the end of December would badly affect the health delivery system in 17 districts of the province.

Responding to a point of order, minister Shahram Tarakai said the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP), which executed health delivery programme, was terminating an agreement with the government by the end of year.

He said that the management of the SRSP annoyed when the assembly`s public account committee had directed to provide accounts of KPHI to the auditor general.

He said PAC members had insisted the organisation to submit record for audit while the latter argued that it was not bound under the Constitution to present its account to the auditor general or PAC.

Under the agreement, the SRSP was bound to continue the programme till December 2016.However, any party can pull out of the agreement with two months prior notice.

The minister said the SRSP`s viewpoint was that a world renowned firm was already auditing its accounts and that under the agreement, it would not furnish accounts to PAC or any other organisation.

He said 571 health facilities including 47 basic health units which also ran mother and child health round the clock would be redundant if the SRSP terminated deal with the government.

The minister said around 2,000 health practitioners including 112 lady doctors and 436 male doctors would lose job.

He said the health department would continue efforts to persuade management of the organisation to continue programme.

The minister is likely to meet the SRSP management today (Thursday) to review its decision.