Political, religious parties announce referendum boycott
By Ashraf Mumtaz
LAHORE, April 26: Rejecting the April 30 referendum as an “extra-constitutional exercise” by which Gen Musharraf wanted his rule to be extended by another five years, a number of political and religious parties decided on Friday to boycott it and appealed to the people to follow the suit.
No call for a wheel jam strike or protests on the referendum day was given. Suggestions by some of the participants that polling stations should be gheraoed to keep the people away, were turned down.
Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, who hosted an all-party conference at the residence of Mr Naveed Malik where the boycott decision was taken, parried a question when he was asked whether the ARD and other parties in the APC would accept a negative verdict by the Supreme Court, which is hearing several petitions challenging the referendum.
“You are asking me something which is yet to come,” the ARD chief said. But, he reminded the questioner that though the Supreme Court had authorised Gen Musharraf to amend the Constitution, the opposition was of the view that since the court itself did not have such a power, it could not delegate one to the military ruler.
The Nawabzada said it would be wrong to assume that having challenged the referendum decision before the top court, political parties could not talk of boycotting it.
A declaration adopted by the APC said: “The nation expects the superior judiciary to rise to occasion by independently, fearlessly, impartially and judiciously performing its duties and upholding the Constitution, defending its independence and acting in the larger public interest while dispensing with the constitutional petitions, restoration of fundamental human rights and survival of the institutions as prescribed by the Constitution.”
The Nawabzada said that the leaders would meet again soon to take stock of the situation and work out their future strategy.
Parties in the ARD, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Ponam, representatives of some bar associations and Human Rights Commission of Pakistan participated in the APC.
The JUP of Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani abstained. But the Nawabzada succeeded in persuading JUP factions led by Sahibzada Haji Fazle Karim and Engineer Saleemullah Khan to turn up.
On Saturday, the ARD is scheduled to hold a public meeting at the Minar-i-Pakistan for which the government gave permission on Friday.
The declaration said: “The participants of all parties conference affirm their unflinching commitment to undiluted democracy, peaceful means, democratic values, the supremacy of 1973 Constitution, rule of law, good governance, revival of full fledged democracy, restoration of fundamental human rights and well-being and prosperity of the people and the integrity and solidarity of Pakistan;
“We call upon the people of all federating units from all walks of life and expect from all democratic and conscientious elements, who believe in the universality of fundamental human rights and a democratic, constitutional parliamentary, federal and representatives system of governance attuned to the aspirations and responsive to the needs of the people, to forge unity and effectively boycott the farce of referendum on April 30 that is aimed at strangulating the will of the people, wasting the taxpayers’ money for the activities other than the development, growth, investment and alleviation of poverty and undermine the integrity and solidarity of the people and State of Pakistan.
“We expect from the international community in general and the United Nations Commission for Human Rights in particular and all democratic forces of the world and the international human rights forums not to coalesce into the authoritarian and expeditious designs and join the voice of the people of Pakistan for the restoration of full fledged democracy, fundamental human rights, the constitutional order through free and fair elections and transfer of power to the genuinely elected representatives of the people.
“The present regime has no right to debar anyone from contesting the forthcoming general action which is a fundamental and constitutional right of every citizen of Pakistan.
The leaders present at the news conference were: ARD Secretary-General Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, PML(N) leaders Raja Zafarul Haq, Tehmina Daultana, Saranjaam Khan and Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, Riaz Durrani, Syed Manzoor Ali Gilani, Amanullah Khan and journalist Saeed Aasi.
Makhdoom Amin Faheem, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Qasim Zia, Malik Hakimeen Khan and Munir Ahmed Khan represented the PPP while Ms Asma Jehangir and Mr Hussain Naqvi represented the HRCP.
