LAHORE, April 9: The Pakistan People’s Party on Tuesday endorsed the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy’s decision to “actively boycott” the referendum called by President Gen Pervez Musharraf to seek a vote to perpetuate himself in power for another five years beyond the October polls.

The endorsement came at a meeting of the PPP Central Executive Committee and the Federal Executive Council held here with senior vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin Faheem in the chair.

The PPP meeting coincided with the first public meeting addressed by the president at the Minar-i-Pakistan ground in the afternoon to kick off his referendum campaign.

The CEC-FEC decisions were announced by PPP acting secretary-general Raza Rabbani at a news conference soon after the meeting.

“The meeting had a one-point agenda — referendum. We have reviewed the president’s April 5 speech (in which he had formally announced the decision to hold a referendum to extend his stay in power till Oct 2007) and the situation arising from his address. The future course of action has also been planned,” Mr Rabbani stated at the outset of the briefing.

Mr Rabbani said the meeting had concluded that the referendum had lost “moral acceptability” in the eyes of people even before being held. “Whatever measures have been taken by the government so far in this respect are devoid of any legal and public support. It is unconstitutional, and violative of the concept of federation as well as the Supreme Court judgment that allowed the general to amend the constitution. The Supreme Court did not have the power to permit the regime to change the constitution in the first place. But even it did not give the regime the right to alter the basic structure of the document. The referendum will alter the federal parliamentary framework of the constitution as it infringes upon the procedures laid down in it for the election of president.”

He said ‘active boycott’ of referendum meant that the PPP would “use all political options in consultation with other anti-referendum parties.”

The PPP leadership also decided to actively participate in all public meetings or rallies to be arranged under the ARD banner to campaign against the referendum scheduled to be held in the first week of May. The PPP also instructed its provincial organizations to hold meetings of their executive or provincial councils in three to four days to draw up extensive programme for holding corner meetings against referendum.

The PPP also lent its support to the lawyers’ struggle against referendum and said it would contact the bar associations all over the country as well as the press to apprise public of the party’s point of view on the issue of referendum and expose the intention of the president. The PPP liaison committees will call on foreign diplomats and inform them of their reservations and objections to the holding of referendum.

In response to a query regarding the possibility of forming an alliance with the religious groups opposed to referendum, Rabbani said the PPP had ideological differences with the religious parties.

“However, it seems right now as if a commonality of objectives does exist. But the modalities (of an alliance with the religious parties) would be decided by the ARD,” he added, implying that the PPP was now ready to get along with the parties it had refused to sit down with when ARD president Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan had convened the All Parties Conference on the Afghan war.

Party sources said the idea of joining forces was vehemently opposed during the meeting. The opponents of the proposal felt that this would give “a new lease of life to the religious parties and amount to supporting their pro-Taliban policies.”

To another query, Rabbani said the party had held a discussion on the role of PPP Nazims in the referendum. He said a “course of action for them” had been approved at the meeting. This, he said, would unfold as the situation developed and the movement against referendum rolled on. None of the PPP Nazims, he said, would attend the president’s public meeting.

He expressed his ignorance about an advertisement taken out in the newspapers by PPP’s Sheikhupura Nazim Tawakkalullah Virk. “I have not seen it,” he said to a question.

He said from the way the referendum was being held and declarations of success made by ministers and governors long before polling, it seemed that it was futile to expect the regime to hold fair, free and transparent general elections in October.

Mr Rabbani did not rule out the possibility of boycotting the October polls, saying a decision in this respect would be taken by the party. He said developments regarding party chairperson Benazir Bhutto and the apprehended pre-poll rigging in the run-up to the general elections would be important factors in the decision. “All political options are open,” he said.

He denied reports that the PPP was still eager to strike a deal with the regime. “Such reports are part of a disinformation campaign against the PPP to confuse the cadres and the people. We have never concealed from the people the details of meetings with the general. Our viewpoint is that we are ready to talk to him if the military wishes to discuss a strategy for its safe exit and for holding fair and free polls in the country.

He said Benazir had always had a role to play in the country’s politics and was the only leader who could bind the provinces and handle internal challenges and face external pressures.

The PPP leader challenged the presidential assertions that the regime had turned around the economy, improved law and order and introduced good governance. He said the government had “utterly failed to implement its seven-point agenda. He added that thousands of jobs have been abolished, utility rates increased, former and serving army officers given lucrative civilian posts, and culture of ‘lota-cracy’ and corruption brought back in the last three years. The economy was still reeling while the state machinery was being used to force the government employees to attend the public meeting. “So much for his good governance,” he said.

He urged the Election Commission to take serious notice of use of state machinery for rigging referendum and the spending of Rs25 million from the public kitty to hold it.

He said a big majority of people was opposed to referendum. “Only ‘tonga parties’ which failed to get any votes in the previous elections are siding with the regime. Besides them, those who had joined the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam), a through and through product of horse-trading, to save themselves from the hands of the National Accountability Bureau are supporting the general and his motives. If the oppose the regime, its leaders know, they would soon find themselves in the clutches of the NAB,” he said.