International

Pak. poll panel member resigns

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD April 12. A member of the Pakistan Election Commission is reported to have resigned in protest against the decision of the Musharraf regime to hold a referendum on whether or not Pervez Musharraf could continue as the President for a period of five more years.

The English daily, Dawn, in a report said that Tariq Mehmood, a judge of the Balochistan High Court, has resigned, as he felt that it was not the mandate of the Election Commission to hold the referendum to extend the tenure of President for five years.

Quoting sources close to Justice Tariq Mehmood, the paper said he resigned on April 6.

``Sources said that the EC member in his resignation noted that issuance of ballot paper for the referendum and the Referendum Order were unconstitutional and it was not the mandate of the Election Commission to conduct such an exercise'', the paper said.

`Referendum unconstitutional'

In a related development, the former chief justice of Pakistan, Sajjad Ali Shah, has termed the referendum as `unconstitutional'. Talking to Radio Tehran, he said the appearance of Gen. Musharraf before the public in military uniform, during his recent rallies, was a violation of the discipline of the armed forces.

``The army is a professional national institution and the law of the land did not permit men in uniform to indulge in politics as Gen. Musharraf is doing by addressing political rallies," he said.

The Former Chief Justice said the President cannot be elected through referendum, as there was a separate procedure in the constitution for election of President. The constitution provided that President could certainly ask a question of a supreme national interest through referendum and its reply was always given in `yes' or `no'. "But you cannot convert the process of referendum into a procedure of holding the presidential election, because the procedure of presidential election has clearly been laid down in the constitution'', Mr. Shah said.

According to this procedure the National Assembly, Senate and the four provincial assemblies would work as an electoral college to elect the head of the state, he maintained.

He said that contrary to referendum, in presidential elections, other contenders were allowed to take part. People were never approached by one person saying that he had introduced reforms in the country, and whether they like him or not.

Gen. Musharraf, he said, had criticised the former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif without any justification and called them plunderers of national wealth. "If they are really plunderers and charges have been framed against them, then only the are authorised to do justice to them.''

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