April 17, 2002	Wednesday	Safar 3, 142

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MULTAN, April 16: Gen Musharraf had made the country devoid of the constitution, ARD chief Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan said on Sunday night.

He was speaking at the Pakistan Defence Conference organized by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) here.

The ARD chief said that the Punjab governor had claimed that the opponents of the referendum would not be victimized but what Mr Maqbool said in the case of Multan District Nazim Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

He said that the ARD, the Mutahidda Majlis-i-Amal, the Pakistan Oppressed Nations’ Movement and the lawyers community were opposing the referendum.

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman said all the military governments had safeguarded the American interest in Pakistan.

Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Husain Ahmad said the MMA would launch a country-wide movement against the proposed referendum.

Hafiz Husain Ahmad, Umer Farooq Taunsvi, Qari Tayyab Jallandari, Rasheed Ahmad Ludhianvi, Ghulam Mustafa Abid and Dr Atif also spoke on the occasion.

BAR: The Multan High Court Bar Association has opposed the presidential referendum, urging for fair and free elections in October to elect president.

At a meeting presided over by its president Muhammad Arif Alvi on Monday, the Bar said that referendums were no substitute to the general elections. Therefore, parliament should be allowed to exercise its right to elect the next president.