April 30, 2002	Tuesday	Safar 16, 1423

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KARACHI, April 29: The workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement expressed dismay on Monday over the speech of President General Pervez Musharraf in his public rally here and declared they would not vote in his referendum on Tuesday.

This was expressed during Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Husain’s address to a gathering to mourn the killing of former lawmakers Dr Nishat Malik and Mustapha Kamal Rizvi at Khurshid Memorial Hall.

Accusing the Inter-Services Intelligence of being involved in the killings of the two MQM leaders, Mr Husain said the party workers were disappointed with General Musharraf’s speech here on Sunday, adding if the government failed to apprehend their killers by Tuesday evening, his party would be justified in inferring that the “ISI is the real master of the country.”

He regretted that Gen Musharraf neither deplored the killing of the two central leaders nor made any pledge to apprehend their killers.

He said despite this disappointing attitude, he had left it to workers to decide about their participation in the referendum.

He said the workers should act according to the fresh decision taken by the party’s coordination committee.

The coordination committee was expected to take a decision on Tuesday after 1600 hours.

He was also critical of

Gen Musharraf for failing to address the concerns of Sindh over Kalabagh dam and other issues.

Recalling the previous stand vis-a-vis referendum, Mr Husain left it to workers to vote or not to vote on Tuesday. The workers responded by saying that they would not vote in the referendum.