SUKKUR, April 17. Speakers at an all parties seminar, organized by the Jamaat-i-Islami, Sukkur, on Wednesday, termed the referendum a joke with the nation.

They said that the referendum was unconstitutional and destructive for the democratic future of the country and added that it would be useless to spend public money on this futile thing.

Sindh JI Amir Asadullah Bhutto, who presided over the seminar, said that the whole nation, including the lawyers’ bars and intellectuals, was united against the referendum.

He said that the referendum was a death warrant for democracy, as it was based on corruption and self aggrandizement.

He criticized America, the EU, the UN and other world organizations for being silent over the undemocratic steps of the government and added that the entire state machinery had been activated for the public meetings of Musharraf.

He said that the Nazimeen and councillors were also being forced to play a political role and support the referendum.

He said that there was a consensus among the religious parties about the restoration of democracy and they would continue their struggle.

The deputy Amir of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl), central, Murad Halijvi, said the result of the referendum had been prepared in advance, and the 30th April exercise was just a farcical game.

He added that he was surprised to see that large funds were being wasted on the futile exercise of the referendum.

He said that military governments had always done a great harm to the country.

The city president of the PPP, Jamil Saheto, said that his party had rejected the referendum and would boycott it on April 30.

He declared that if any Nazim or councillor of the PPP supported the referendum, he would be deprived of the PPP’s support.

The president of the district bar association, Sukkur, Bhajan Das Tejwani, said the lawyers had rejected referendum as it was unconstitutional. He added that the military had destroyed the fabric of country, and the state institutions were almost collapsed.