KARACHI, April 1: The government is expected to make the final decision on holding a referendum to seek five years’ extension for Gen Musharraf’s tenure as President, in the next few days, but most of the leading political and religious parties appear not to have taken any concrete stand on the issue yet.
Except for three major religious political parties, the rest appear to be unable to pursue any definite line of action: whether to support the proposed referendum or not. Though some of them have already taken a decision, they are hesitating to make it public due to specific reasons.
Unlike the martial law regime of Gen Ziaul Haq, which used religion to continue its rule, the Musharraf regime has adopted the slogan of introducing a liberal, progressive and “real” democratic government in Pakistan, and on the basis of which it has launched a campaign to seek the support of the people for the proposed referendum.
Gen Ziaul Haq, on the basis of championing the cause of religion, managed to get the support of religious parties, including the Jamaat-i-Islami.
But now most of the political parties appear to be in a fix as regards their line of action.
The government has, apparently, managed to elicit support of some of the political and religious parties for the referendum, but opinion is, reportedly, divided in major political parties on the question of referendum.
Compare with Gen Zia’s referendum when the then regime did not face any problem, this regime is facing stiff resistance from some of the leading political parties, including religious parties.
The Acting General Secretary of the Pakistan People’s Party, Mian Raza Rabbani, has announced that referendum is unacceptable to the PPP.
“We have to take some bold steps about referendum. We would take a decision against the expected move of the government, and a strategy would soon be finalized,” he said.
He said the ARD was likely to meet in the coming days to evolve its strategy on the issue.
He was of the view that holding of referendum by the President would be a violation of the constitution. After the announcement of the election schedule, the PPP would announce the date for return of its chairperson, Benazir Bhutto, from abroad, to contest the polls.
Mr Rabbani called for the formation of a government of national consensus to hold free and fair elections and hand over power to the elected representatives.
The Senior Vice President of the Pakistan Muslim League (N), Ejaz Shafi, said the party central executive committee was meeting on April 4 in Islamabad where the party’s strategy on the referendum issue would be discussed and decided.
“In the light of the Supreme Court decision allowing the military regime to take necessary steps keeping in view the doctrine of necessity, does not mean it can do everything that it wants.
He said a formal announcement of referendum would amount to clear violation of the constitution, adding that they would challenge it in a court of law.
The Secretary-General of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, Mairaj Mohammed Khan, said his party was still undecided about the referendum issue, and a decision was expected to be taken after the party central executive committee meeting which was scheduled in the next few days.
Asked about his view on the issue, he said any comment before the party decision would be immature.
The General Secretary of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Syed Munawwar Hasan, rejected the proposed referendum to allow President Gen Pervez Musharraf to continue in office for the next five years.
He termed the proposed referendum unconstitutional, claiming the majority of the people had expressed their strong opposition to the military’s role in politics.
The chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Altaf Husain, in a statement from London, said no final decision had yet been taken by the party on the referendum issue.
“We are discussing the matter with leaders, workers and intellectuals in programmes and meetings,” he said, adding the final decision was expected to be made soon.
A member of the steering committee of the Sindh Democratic Alliance, Jalal Mehmood Shah, said his party had not made any decision yet.
None of the leaders of the PML (QA) was available in the province as all of them are, reportedly, in Islamabad to resolve their alleged disputes, but its leadership has already informally announced to support the proposed referendum.—PPI