Tuesday, Apr 30, 2002
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By B. Muralidhar Reddy
In an address to the nation on the eve of the presidential referendum, telecast and broadcast on state television and radio, Gen. Musharraf made it a point to refer twice to his consultations with Islamic scholars in the course of the campaign. ``I want to assure the Islamic scholars who are supportive of the referendum that my Government is committed to the establishment of true democracy in the spirit of Islam,'' Gen. Musharraf said. Towards the end of his 12-minute speech he once again talked about his interaction with the Islamic scholars. It appears Gen. Musharraf deliberately made his address short. His110-minute address to the people on April 5, the day he announced the referendum and explained the rationale behind it, was widely criticised in the Pakistan media. Gen. Musharraf talked about the enthusiastic participation of the youth in his rallies and the interactive sessions in the last three weeks and declared that the voting age for elections to the National and Provincial assemblies would also be lowered to 18. He said the general elections to the national and provincial assemblies would be held in October. The proposed amendments to the Constitution would be released for public debate before adoption. Gen. Musharraf sought to assure the people and the rest of the world that the referendum would be "free, fair and transparent". He said several countries had shown an interest in monitoring the referendum process and maintained that international observers were welcome to come and see for themselves the whole exercise. He made a brief reference to the Supreme Court verdict on Saturday upholding the referendum as legal and said the judgment should end all doubts about the validity of the exercise. He defended the expenditure involved in the referendum and said it was necessary in the interests of the country. Gen. Musharraf wanted to know "if there was a more important question before Pakistan today than whether I have a role and whether people favoured continuation of policies of my Government." In a related development, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), led by the former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, has complained to the United Nations that the "end-game of referendum was perpetuation of the General's dictatorship." In a letter addressed to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, the party alleged that with this end in view the "military junta is increasingly relying on shady people of dubious characters and questionable integrity." ``The contemptuous campaign by the military regime against politicians has left them with little choice on the political front. Gen. Musharraf has embarked upon the policy of reaching out to shady political characters." The letter said that some politicians and bureaucrats imprisoned on corruption charges were asking for facilities after announcing support for Gen. Musharraf in the referendum.
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