SUKKUR, April 29: The election of Gen Pervez Musharraf as president for the next five years through referendum is harmful for the integrity of the country.

This was said by the former deputy opposition leader in the National Assembly, Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah, while speaking at a news conference at the National Press Club on Monday.

He said that the public meeting of Gen Musharraf at Karachi was hijacked by a party which raised slogans for independent Sindh.

He said that to give a free hand to those who had worked against the solidarity and integrity of the country was a clear indication of where Gen Musharraf was pushing the country to.

Mr Shah said that whenever the country received any setback it was during a dictatorial regime. He said it was therefore imperative for the people to show that they did not support Gen Musharraf by staying at home on April 30.

He said Gen Musharraf wanted to keep Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif out of the election arena as he was afraid of them.

Mr Shah said if he wanted to judge his popularity, he should allow both the leaders to return and then see his real position among the people.

He claimed that 80 per cent of the population belonged to the the major political parties.

While talking about the water projects, he said Gen Musharraf had created ‘hatred’ among the provinces, specially between Sindh and Punjab, which also had jeopardized the national integrity.

He said all the resources and bureaucratic machinery were being used to make the referendum a success while Gen Musharraf had ‘no moral or political justification’ to elect himself as president.

He said billions of rupees were being spent on the referendum.

Answering a question, he said time had not come to ask the PPP-backed Nazims, Naib Nazims and councilors to tender their resignations.

POLICE: The additional inspector-general of police, Sukkur range, Nayyar Husnain, has said that since April 15 five encounters have taken place between the police and dacoits.

One dacoit, Nazar, son of Amanullah Sarki, was killed in the encounters.

Seven dacoits were arrested and four kidnapped persons were also recovered.