Islamabad | Thursday
PAKISTAN’S military ruler General Pervez Musharraf is considering holding a referendum on the continuation of his presidency for another five years, a senior politician said Thursday.
”He is seriously thinking of holding referendum to ensure continuity,” said Ijaz ul-Haq, senior vice president of a faction of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) opposed to party leader and deposed premier Nawaz Sharif.
Musharraf had raised the idea of a referendum in talks with a 33-member delegation of the PML-AQ faction at his official residence here on Wednesday, Ijaz said.
During the talks Musharraf also discussed parliamentary elections, which he has pledged to hold in October, and possible presidential elections.
”He asked our views on a referendum, which he believes is an option” in the absence of a parliament, Ijaz said. Musharraf’s push for a referendum ”seems serious,” he said. The president will make a final decision on whether to hold a referendum after similar talks with other political party leaders in coming days, Ijaz said.
However, a referendum on Musharraf’s presidency had not been discussed at a cabinet meeting Wednesday, and ”no decision has been taken in this regard,” Information Minister Nisar Memon told reporters after the cabinet session.
Speculation was rife in local media Thursday that the referendum would be held in late April or early May, but Ijaz said Musharraf specified no date in his talks with the PML-AQ delegation.
Musharraf, the country’s military chief, dissolved the parliament in June 2001, 21 months after seizing power and suspending the parliament in a bloodless coup which toppled the elected government of Nawaz Sharif.
The PML split after the October coup into factions for and against Sharif.
Musharraf declared himself president in June 2001.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court has ordered a return to democracy by October 2002 and allowed Musharraf to amend the constitution if necessary, without changing its fundamental character.
The president has hinted he will remain as leader after the parliamentary polls in October, saying in Tokyo last week that he would stay on if there was ”a role” for him.
”If I have a role to play, I will play that role, I will not hesitate to play that role, however, one has to find a constitutional answer to my playing this role,” Musharraf told reporters.- Sapa-AFP