ISLAMABAD: The Acting Opposition Leader, Maulana Mufti Mahmud, this evening [May 27] made an abortive attempt to raise a privilege motion against Prime Minister Bhutto`s speech on the February 6 agreement in the National Assembly yesterday and following a half-hour heated discussion on its admissibility, the Opposition Members, who had returned to the House only for this motion after a prolonged boycott again withdrew.

Earlier, another privilege motion sought to be moved by Sardar Shaukat Hayat against the news media for not giving fuller coverage to his yesterday`s speech on his adjournment motion regarding the [Feb 6] agreement was returned to him with direction to bring it back in a more specific manner and supported by relevant documents. Islamabad Bureau [Meanwhile as reported by news agencies from Paris,] French President Giscard d`Estaing said last night [May 26] at a dinner in honour of the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Salim al-Sabah, at the Elysee Palace that France backed the Palestinian people`s right to their homeland. `We are more than ever determined to pursue our action for a just and lasting settlement with solid international guarantees,` he said.