PESHAWAR, April 22: The Nazimeen of the districts of Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshera, Swabi and Kohat have been assigned the task to make the President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s public meeting in connection with his referendum a success here on Tuesday by bringing people of their respective areas to the meeting’s venue Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium.

“This will be a big public meeting”, Nazim Peshawar City District, Azam Afridi, claimed. He said that people from different areas including Mardan, Charsadda, Kohat and the adjoining tribal areas are expected to attend the meeting.

He said that some 40,000 chairs would be arranged in the ground for the audience. An official of the NWFP Sports Board, however, confirmed that the Arbab Niaz Stadium had some 15,000 seating capacity.

Extra-ordinary security arrangements have been taken to thwart any eventuality on the occasion of President Musharraf’s first public appearance in Peshawar on Tuesday.

Contingents of Frontier Constabulary and Frontier Reserve Police have been deployed in various parts of the city and the venue of the public meeting scheduled at 6:30 pm. The administration has decided to ban the entry of Afghan refugees in the city and confine their movement to their respective camps.

Pakistan army has set up its control room in the premises of the stadium. An official of the NWFP Sports Board told that the administration had directed them to hand over the ground before 5pm on Monday to finalize the security arrangements.

Sources in police department said that a large number of vehicles have been impounded to bring people from Mardan, Charsadda, Kohat, Nowshera, Swabi, Khyber and Mohmand Agencies.

A 10-feet high stage has been set up in front of the pavilion and kept some 40 meters distance between the stage and the audience. Besides, four-feet fence has been erected in the middle of the ground and the pitches have been covered with chairs.

Some political parties are also in the forefront to welcome the president in Peshawar. The political parties including Millat Party, Pakistan Tehrik-i- Insaf, PML(Q), PPP (Sherpao group), Pakistan Awami Tehrik and other groups have displayed their party’s flags and colourful banners on the routes leading towards Arbab Niaz Cricket stadium.

Though the ANP has announced that it would abstain from the referendum, Haroon Bilour, the scion of the Bilours, who are with the ANP, has decorated the main G.T Road with red party flags.

In some of the banners the president Gen Pervez Musharraf has been described as “Quaid-i-Azam Sani” and “Long Live the Hero of Kargil”.