KARACHI, Sept 26: Terming Gen Musharraf’s attempts to get himself re-elected as president “unconstitutional,” Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) members of the Sindh Assembly on Tuesday sent resignations from the assembly to MMA chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad, to be forwarded to the speaker.

Of a total of eight MMA MPAs, Nasrullah Khan Shaji, Abdul Rehman Rajput, advocate Hameedullah Khan, Mohammed Yunus Barai and Kulsoom Nizamani have submitted resignation letters. The remaining three — Maulana Omar Sadiq, Hafiz Mohammed Naeem and Maulana Ehsanullah Hazarvi —are yet to decide and belong to the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F, a dominant group among the alliance of six religious parties. The ninth person elected on an MMA ticket, Sakina Bano, has already defected to the ruling PML-Q.

In a joint statement, the MPAs said that Gen Pervez Musharraf constituted a security risk to the country since his anti-state and anti-Islam measures were putting solidarity, sovereignty and Islamic identity at stake.

They recalled that the ulema, religious seminaries and mosques had come under attack during his rule, and termed the Lal Masjid events the blackest day of all. Calling the targeting of hundreds of Jamia Hafsa students an attempt to appease the US, the MPAs said that the killers responsible for the Nishtar Park tragedy, where many ulema were killed, had not yet been arrested.

They criticised the government’s economic policies for having increased poverty, unemployment and price hikes.