LAHORE, April 30: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy and its components PPP and the PML(N) said on Tuesday that the nation had refused to give Gen Musharraf a mandate to stay in power by effectively boycotting the “farcical referendum” after which the general should honour his commitment of stepping down so that electoral process could be started to put the country back on the democratic track.

ARD President Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan has started contacts with leaders of the alliance constituents to hold an emergency meeting and devise a future course of action to meet the requirements of the post-referendum situation.

Muttahida Majlis-i-Aml President Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani advised all parties not to think of any resistance movement nor destabilize the government in view of the sensitivity of the situation facing the country. He warned that people’s confrontation with the army could lead to a situation which had dismembered Pakistan.

Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan claimed that reports he had received from all parts of the country showed that the nation had responded to the alliance’s boycott call and rejected the referendum.

“The people have given their verdict. Now we’ll see whether Gen Musharraf honours his word (that he will step down in case he is rejected by the electorate)”, the ARD chief said.

The Nawabzada said poor turnout at all polling stations should be a matter of concern even for the general who, he alleged, had wasted huge amounts of the tax money and valuable time of people for an extra-constitutional thing — referendum.

PML(QA) President Mian Muhammad Azhar said the victory of Gen Musharraf in referendum augured well for the country as it would help a smooth transition to a democratic rule. The election of a new parliament in October in a short period of three years of military rule would be a great achievement for the entire nation, he said.

He said fair and free elections could be expected after Gen Musharraf’s victory in referendum.

He said parties which had boycotted the referendum had no justification for their decision since they had supported the 1984 referendum of Gen Zia. He said religious parties now opposing Gen Musharraf had not only joined Gen Zia’s cabinet but also extended full support to his referendum. By boycotting the Tuesday referendum, he said, these parties had done no service to Islam.

Replying to a question, Mian Azhar said though the PML(QA) and religious parties looked poles apart, the gulf was temporary.

He said he would soon establish contact with religious parties for cooperation in the October elections.

Punjab PML(N) President Sardar Zulfikar Khosa said that people had not come out to vote for the general despite ‘the carrot and stick’ used by the government. He said even the PTV coverage of the polling vindicated that people had just no interest in the exercise the general had carried out to have his term extended by five years.

No queues were seen on any polling station and at several places the staff waited for the whole day to see a voter, he said. The negative response despite all persuasions by the Nazims and other government functionaries, Mr Khosa argued, meant that the nation did not want to see Gen Musharraf at the helm. Propriety demanded that the general should respect the public opinion and quit without delay.

Central Vice-President Tehmina Daultana and provincial secretary-general Khwaja Saad Rafiq said that all PML(N) Nazims and councillors had boycotted the referendum in accordance with the party decision.

MMA President Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani said though the referendum had divided the nation, the verdict of the Supreme Court on the exercise should be respected.

He said a state of confrontation appeared to be emerging in the country which should be avoided at all costs.

He said parties must point out the mistakes of the government but should not launch any resistance movement. The army, he said, should not be targeted at a time when the enemy had deployed its forces on borders.

He said he would advise all parties in the MMA to prepare themselves for the October elections.

ARD Secretary-General Iqbal Zafar Jhagra said by rejecting the referendum the nation had established that it did not believe in extra-constitutional steps.

He said boycott of the referendum was a silent message by the people that they wanted supremacy of the constitution. In case the government did not heed, he warned, people might come out on streets results of which could not be safely predicted at this juncture.

Mr Jhagra demanded that Gen Musharraf should step down and set up an interim government of national complexion to hold free and fair elections.