PESHAWAR, April 23: Terming the forthcoming presidential referendum unconstitutional, illegal and a fraud with the nation, the Peshawar High Court Bar Association stated on Tuesday that successive military rulers had trampled the Constitution under their feet.

A meeting of the bar association, presided over by senior advocate Ismael Qureshi, condemned the April 30 referendum, stating that there was only one mechanism of electing the president which was given in Article 41 of the Constitution.

The meeting adopted a resolution through which the referendum was termed a farce and a joke with the people. The speakers warned that further tinkering with the Constitution would push the country towards disaster.

Through another resolution, adopted unanimously, tribute was paid to Justice Tariq Mahmood of the Balochistan High Court. The speakers said that by resigning from the membership of the Election Commission of Pakistan and Balochistan High Court, Justice Mahmood had acted in accordance with his conscience and other judges should also follow the suit.

The resolution stated that by tendering resignation and terming the referendum illegal and unconstitutional, Justice Mahmood had created history.

Those spoke on the occasion included Barrister Masood Kausar, Mohammad Khursheed Khan, Arbab Mohammad Usman Khan, Jamal Khattak, Mohammad Younus Shah Kakakhel, Hafiz Aman, Bashir Khan Tanghi and Muzamil Khan. Most of the speakers highlighted different provisions of the Constitution and elaborated that under the Constitution there was no concept of a referendum for election of president.

The speakers said that although under Article 48(6) of the Constitution a referendum could be held on an issue of national interest, but no referendum could be arranged for settling an issue which had already been explained in the Constitution. They said only the electoral college mentioned in the Constitution was empowered to elect the president.