April 4, 2002	Thursday	Muharram 20, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, April 3: The cabinet and the National Security Council on Wednesday unanimously approved the holding of a referendum to extend President Pervez Musharraf’s rule for a term of five years when the present term will expire after the October general elections.

The president may announce the date for the referendum in his address to the nation scheduled for Friday. Informed circles said the referendum would most probably be held on May 6.

Some of the participants of the meeting believed to have said that referendum should be held as early as possible to avert the possibility of political and religious parties joining hands to oppose the exercise.

According to an official announcement, the joint meeting unanimously approved the holding of a national referendum on ‘important national issues’. “The president will address the nation on Friday to take people into confidence on the details of the referendum”.

The meeting, presided over by Gen Musharraf, was attended by the services chiefs, Vice Chief of the Army Staff and provincial governors besides members of the cabinet, the announcement added.

The participants of the meeting were asked not to divulge the details of the deliberations as the president would himself unveil his plan over the issue on Friday. “Everyone has been asked not to speak on this issue, therefore I won’t talk,” said a ministerial source.

Insiders maintained that the use of vote for referendum was being made mandatory as the government wanted maximum participation unlike the previous such exercises carried out by Ayub Khan and Gen Zia.

Pakistan Muslim League (Q), also known as the King’s party, Farooq Leghari’s Millat Party, Prof Tahirul Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehrik and Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf have already announced support for the referendum.

The government believed that Nazims and District Nazims with 200,000 local government representatives would use their possible influence to get the president elected.

However, the PML, the PPP, and major religious parties, i.e. Jamaat-i-Islami, both factions of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, and Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan of Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani have opposed the referendum. They have declared that they will mobilize the public opinion against it. They are of the view that referendum clause is meant for soliciting public opinion on important national issues and not for getting a president elected.

These religious and political parties as well as the lawyers’ community are questioning how a serving government official can contest an election or seek any public office without resigning and spending two y