October 03, 2007	Wednesday	Ramazan 20, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Oct 2: Parties in the opposition APDM alliance on Tuesday handed over resignations of 85 MNAs to National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain.

Resignations were also tendered by members of the Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan assemblies in Lahore, Karachi and Quetta.

The MPAs belonging to the APDM in the NWFP Assembly, however, did not submit their resignations as the opposition had filed a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Akram Durrani.

The total number of resignations comes to 87 including those of Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed who had quit the NA earlier.

Chaudhry Amir Hussain told newsmen he could not give a deadline for the acceptance of the resignations, but said they would be deemed effective from the date of their receipt by his chamber.

Among those who submitted their resignations, 62 belong to the MMA, 21 to the PML-N (including five who had recently joined the Nawaz Sharif’s party after defecting from the ruling PML) and one each to Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI), Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP) and Awami National Party (ANP).

Out of the list of 62 MNAs released to the press, Maulana Khalilur Rahman, Qari Gul Rahman and Qari Abdul Haleem of the MMA did not turn up to submit their resignations.

Another MMA legislator Abdul Halim, who is suspected of trying to cut a deal with the government, also did not turn up. The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl is not sure if he would side with the opposition.

Khalil Ahmed Mukhlis, who had announced to quit the JUI-F and decided to set up JUI Haqiqi, was also not there.

Shahabuddin Khan of the ANP, who had announced that he would resign, was not present in the capital, but his resignation was handed over to the speaker.

MMA secretary general and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rahman, deputy secretary general Liaquat Baloch, PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq, acting president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, PTI chairman Imran Khan, ANP president Asfandyar Wali, PMAP leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Balochistan National Party (BNP) chief Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch and other leaders led the procession.

The leaders called it a historic day as the largest ever number of legislators had quit the assemblies en bloc to challenge what they termed ‘unethical, immoral and unconstitutional’ election of General Musharraf.

They appealed to the people to observe a complete shutter-down strike on October 6.

A charged crowd of APDM activists escorted their lawmakers to the parliament house gates. They were stopped, but allowed to enter the main entrance after some time.

Police took no step to block the way of political workers who were carrying party flags and chanting anti-Musharraf slogans.

Maulana Fazlur Rahman declared that the presidential election process had lost moral and political credibility because with a depleted electoral college Gen Musharraf’s re-election would be a farce.

Liaquat Baloch said: “The MMA lawmakers are tendering their resignations as a protest against the presidential election of a chief of army staff who has perpetrated military dictatorship in the country, weakened the Islamic ideology and is trying to impose the so-called enlightened moderation after repealing Hudoodullah and desecrating Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa.”

In Lahore, PML-N and Jamaat-i-Islami leaders said they had submitted resignations of 46 members of the Punjab assembly.

However, the assembly secretariat confirmed receipt of 43 resignations and said 38 of them came from the PML-N and five from the JI.

If these resignations are accepted, the 371-member provincial legislature will still have 260 MPAs of the ruling PML and 65 belonging to the PPP.

In Karachi, resignations of seven of the eight MMA members in the Sindh Assembly were submitted to Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah.

Three members appeared

in person while four others

sent their resignations by pro-

xy.

The assembly secretariat will take 2-3 days for scrutiny and thereafter the resignations will be put up for order.

In Quetta, 25 members of

the MMA, PMAP and National Party submitted their resignations to Balochistan Assembly Speaker Jamal Shah Kakar

and Deputy Sparker Aslam Bhootani.

The speaker accepted the resignations and the assembly secretary later issued an official notification.

Earlier, the MMA, PMAP, and NP legislators gathered at

the MPAs hostel and went to the assembly building in a procession.