The Hindu : Musharraf may seek referendum for re-election

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 21, 2002

International

International

Musharraf may seek referendum for re-election

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD March 20. It is now almost certain that the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, would opt for a referendum to get himself elected as the President for five more years.

The possibility of an announcement on March 23, observed as Pakistan Day, is high.

Renewed speculation on the referendum followed a meeting of the top brass of the military on Monday. A section of the press had suggested that the future political strategy of Gen. Musharraf was one of the main items on the agenda of the conference presided over by the Pakistan President.

The managers of the Musharraf regime are weighing the pros and cons of the referendum for several weeks now. Gen. Musharraf had stated time and again that he intended to continue in office as President to ensure the continuity of economic and political reforms initiated by his Government.

Gen. Musharraf appointed himself as the Pakistan President in June last year, a few weeks before the Agra Summit, after the then President, Rafiq Tarar, `ceased' to hold office, following dissolution of the National and Provincial Assemblies.

The appointment was under the Provincial Constitutional Order (PCO), promulgated by the military government after suspension of the Constitution in the wake of the October 1999 bloodless coup that led to the ouster of Nawaz Sharif.

Under the suspended Constitution of Pakistan, members of the National and

Provincial Assemblies form the Electoral College to elect the President. In normal circumstances Gen. Musharraf would have to wait till the national and provincial assemblies come into being after the promised October elections.

But it appears that the camp followers of Gen. Musharraf do not want to take any chances and leave such a major decision to the future assemblies. In a way it reflects the uncertainty about the composition of the assemblies and puts a question mark on the promised general elections.

The view of political parties and legal experts in the country is that any election of Gen. Musharraf as President through a referendum would not be legal. Some political parties like the Pakistan People's Party led by the former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, have in fact threatened to move the courts against the referendum idea.

The newly-appointed Law & Justice Minister, Khalid Ranjha, who was sworn in last week has claimed that the Constitution had the option of electing the President through a referendum. ``At present if we want to elect the President, referendum is the only option'', he has claimed.

The PPP promptly contested this and issued a strongly-worded statement ,quoting chapter and verse from the suspended Constitution in support of its contention that there was no such provision.

The argument of the political parties is that election through referendum would require an amendment in the suspended Constitution and only an elected Assembly could make such a change. Further they cite the Pakistan Supreme Court judgment which held that the military regime has no authority to carry out any fundamental amendments in the Constitution.

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