ISLAMABAD, 18 July 2006 — The opposition religious alliance, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), has vowed to block President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s bid to get elected as president for another five-year term.

MMA leader Fazlur Rahman told newsmen after a meeting of the party’s consultative committee yesterday that the party would not allow Gen. Musharraf to get elected for another term as it was unconstitutional. The MMA consultative committee came up with the statement after a two-day meeting in Peshawar.

The MMA leader said, “We will collect resignations from our legislators and hand them over to the Senate chairman and National Assembly speaker when the situation warrants.”

He said, “If the ruling Pakistan Muslim League wants to re-elect Musharraf as the military president, we will act to block it.”

Legislators belonging to Jamaat-e-Islami, another party in the MMA, have already submitted their resignations to party chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad.

Pakistan People’s Party and other parties in the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy have asked Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to step down before July 31 or face no-confidence motion in the assembly.

The ARD, that includes Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz group), also announced it would move a motion to impeach President Musharraf.

Candidacy for UN Post

Pakistan and China will consult and coordinate in the selection of an acceptable candidate for the post of the secretary-general of the United Nations, Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told Arab News yesterday. She said the two countries have already begun the process of consultation.

“As traditional allies, Pakistan and China have been consulting each other on important issues,” she said adding, “China being a permanent member of the UN Security Council has some reservations about Japan’s candidacy.” Tasnim said the two countries have established a mechanism at the bilateral level for taking a united stand on regional and international issues. She said that China feels that the next UN secretary-general should be from Asia acceptable to the Asian nations.

China has officially disapproved Japan’s candidate for numerous reasons. “Beijing has also said no to the Indian bid,” a diplomatic source said.