ISLAMABAD, May 1: Information Minister Nisar Memon on Wednesday dismissed the coverage of referendum by national press and international news agencies, describing the reports of low turnout and irregularities as “inaccurate and exaggerated”.

The minister told a news conference that he had gone through the newspapers and often wondered about the decline in the objectivity. He also rejected the reports of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and other independent sources.

When a foreign correspondent pointed out that it was not only the press but also other independent sources who had reported low turnout and instances of rigging, the minister said that most of those reports had been based on opposition sources.

Giving vent to government’s restiveness over media coverage, he remarked that he was compelled to think “what the hell is going on”. In reply to a question whether the government had any intention of lifting ban on political activities after the president’s election, he said the government had no plan to immediately lift the ban.

“We are not scared of anything,” the minister said, adding they did not want to disrupt the normal economic activity.

Many questions were asked by the reporters about the future policy of the government towards the political parties opposing President Musharraf.

He said those political parties who would refrain from taking the law in their hands would not be touched. However, he added, the government would not tolerate any breach of law.

Regarding the referendum results, he said so far the counting in 76.3 per cent polling stations had been completed and it showed that 98pc of the votes had been polled in support of the President Musharraf’s reform agenda.

Though the minister outrightly rejected reports of low turnout, he said the number of polling stations had been increased from 43,000 to 87,274 and it could be one of the reasons for lack of rush and absence of queues on polling booths.