TOBA TEK SINGH, March 23: The PML-Q will support the proposed referendum for the sake of restoration of democracy in the country.

This was stated by PML-Q central leader Ejazul Haq while talking to newsmen at Gojra on Saturday.

He said a PML delegation had apprised president Pervez Musharraf of all pros and cons of his proposed referendum.

The president should be elected through direct public votes instead of parliamentarians so that he could be accountable to them, he said.

Mr Haq said he had also opposed the 13th amendment to the constitution and asked Nawaz Sharif not to diminish the president’s powers.

He also proposed that a retired judge should be made the NAB chief instead of an army general.

He supported policies of the Musharraf government after the Sept 11 with the only exception of supporting US bombardment in Afghanistan. He opposed the induction of technocrats in the national assembly saying they should be inducted in senate only.

The PML-Q would make alliance with religious parties in the forthcoming general election, he claimed. —Correspondent