April 3, 2002	Wednesday	Muharram 19,1423

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ISLAMABAD, April 2: Senior vice-president of Pakistan Muslim League Akram Zaki said on Tuesday that the proposal to hold referendum to elect Gen Pervez Musharraf as president was extra-constitutional and thus unacceptable to the nation.

Speaking at a news conference at PML’s camp office here Zaki said: “Referendum cannot be legally or constitutionally used to elect the president although article 48(6) provides ‘any matter of national importance’ may be referred to a referendum, yet this provision does not apply to the election of the president”.

He further said: “There was a specific method laid down for the election of the president under article 41 of the constitution which reads: “The president to be elected after the expiration of the term specified in clause (1) shall be elected in accordance with the provisions of the second schedule by the members of an electoral college consisting;

a) the members of both houses, and

b) the members of the provisional assemblies.

The same article, he said, further reads: “Election to the office of president shall be held not earlier than 60 days and not later than 30 days before the expiration of the term of the president in office.”

Zaki argued that the process of holding referendum was unconstitutional which could be challenged in the supreme court.

He said a person retired from government service does not qualify to become a member of parliament, as in the case of Gen Musharraf, for at least two years after retirement. Someone who is ineligible to be an MNA was also disqualified to contest for the office of the president, he maintained.