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Pak parties slam Musharraf's
referendum move

K J M Varma in Islamabad

Terming as illegal, unconstitutional and immoral Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's decision to hold a national referendum next month on his continuation in office, mainstream political parties wanted to know to whom he would hand over power if he failed to get the 'yes' vote.

Former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League and some religious parties reacted to Musharraf's decision saying it was "political blackmail" of the nation and reflected his guilty conscience born out of his lust for power.

Musharraf, while announcing his decision on Friday night to hold the referendum in the first week of May, also declared that Bhutto and Sharif would not be allowed any role in Pakistan's politics.

"Pakistan's Constitution clearly stated that the federal and provincial legislatures would elect the president of Pakistan," PPP said.

"It is illegal, unconstitutional and immoral for the general to declare himself president through the referendum," the party said.

The PML-N said the announcement was aimed at "political blackmail of the nation and all major political parties rejected this so-called referendum which would be resisted at every level."

Slamming the referendum move, leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, said it was unfortunate that the country was being led by a person who wanted to remain in power by all available unconstitutional and unlawful sources of power.

The president's speech reflected a "guilty conscience" born out of his "lust" for power, he said. He said he would meet Musharraf along with other religious party leaders to discuss the referendum and its fallout.

Jamait Ulama-e-Islam leader Maulana Fazalur Rehman said Musharraf's speech was aimed at "confusing the masses through jugglery of words."

Terming the proposed referendum as a "gimmick" to seek public legitimacy, the PPP also said Musharraf's real power base was the army, which he was using for "political ambitions."

It termed the claims by Musharraf government that the Constitution allows for the election of president through a referendum as "blatant distortion."

The party asked the general to clarify to whom he would hand over power if he was rejected by the people.

However, support for the move came from smaller political parties like PML (Quidi Azam), a pro-government faction, which termed his approach "realistic."

The Pakistan Awami Tehreek said the performance of the military government was far better than that of the preceding democratic governments.

PTI

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