April 8, 2002	Monday	Muharram 24, 1423

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FAISALABAD, April 7: Major political parties have planned protest movements against the holding of referendum by President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

PPP’s Punjab Secretary-General Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan said in a statement on Sunday that the central working committee and the federal council of the party would decide the mode of protest within the next 24 hours after consulting chairperson Benazir Bhutto.

“The proposal to join other political and religious parties in the movement is also under consideration,” he said.

Rana Aftab said that Gen Pervez Musharraf had not made it clear so far that what he would do if voters rejected him in the referendum.

Punjab PML-N Vice-President Chaudhry Safdar Rehman, former MPAs Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan, Rana Sanaullah Khan and former MNA Mian Abdul Mannan said that rulers would not be allowed to hold referendum.

They said that the central leadership has finalized the programme to hold protest demonstrations throughout the country. PML-N coordinator Ahsan Iqbal and all local leaders will speak to the participants in the first demonstration to be held at Mohalla Islamnagar in Faisalabad on April 9.

They said that Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif would return before general elections at all costs and would lead the party.

Jamaat-i-Islami’s city Amir Mahboob-uz-Zaman Butt said that his party activists would encircle polling stations and government offices.

Office-bearers of Jamaat Ahle Hadith, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam and Jamiat Ulema Pakistan also rejected the referendum plan and termed it a violation of the Supreme Court’s decision.