SWABI, March 30: As president Musahrraf’s intentions are quite clear that he would like to stay on as president even after the October election, he is likely to opt for a referendum.

This view was expressed by legal experts in a debate entitled “Referendum and its constitutional validity” organized by the journalist community here on Friday.

The president of Swabi Bar Association Yaqub Khan said instead of a referendum the president should follow a procedure prescribed in the constitution and avoid going for shortcuts.

“There is no provision in our constitution which calls for a referendum for the president’s office. This power rests only with the parliament and the provincial assemblies”, he added.

The general secretary of Bar said if president Musharraf got himself elected as president and tilted the balance of power in favour of the president’s office then the parliamentary democracy in Pakistan would be hoodwinked.

He said: “In the past we have seen Field Marshal Ayub Khan’s basic democracies and Gen Zia’s Islamization programme, and now Gen Pervez Musharraf is saying that he wants to establish genuine democracy, so he must remain as president of the country for some time. But this argument does not seem convincing”.

Mohammad Israr advocate said it was strange that president Musharraf during his recent visit to Japan said that neither Banazir nor Nawaz could contest the forthcoming elections, but according to rules only the chief election commission is empowered to debar anyone from contesting elections.

He predicted that looking from the resentment and resistance by the key political parties against president’s intentions to held referendum, he may now get himself elected for a five-year term by the local government representatives.

The district president of PML (N) Iftikhar Ahmad advocate said that Gen Musharraf’s intention of holding a referendum has clashed with the supreme court verdict which calls for holding general elections in October, transfer of power from the military regime to the elected representatives and returning of the army to the barracks.