Pakistani cricket legend-turned politician Imran Khan on Tuesday backed the referendum to be held next month to decide the future of President Pervez Musharraf but his fledgling Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf headed for trouble as some of its leaders have opposed it openly. After considerable dithering, Imran Khan declared that his party has decided to support Musharraf's referendum. In a statement issued from Karachi, Imran said he has decided to support the referendum as he believed that Musharraf wanted "to make Pakistan a modern Islamic, welfare state". Imran said his party wants to play its real role as "we desire that democracy is promoted in the country and a clean leadership come to the fore". Imran launched his party with a lot of fanfare in the last general elections but ended up in a great disappointment after he failed to win a single seat even though he himself contested 22 seats from different regions.
A bitter critic of former Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, Imran alleged that politicians in the country minted money through corruption during the last 12 years. The referendum has been opposed by all the major political parties including Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party, (PPP) and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim league (PML). While Imran announced the support to the referendum, a section of his party headed by General Secretary Miraj Muhammad Khan openly opposed the party decision to back it. Pakistan Daily quoted a party sources as saying that Miraj was bitterly critical of the party accepting the "undemocratic" move of Musharraf trying to get elected for a five year term through a referendum
Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chief Imran Khan has hailed the SC verdict on the Oct 12 change and said that it will provide the present government with an element of legitimacy. Mr Khan said the government should start the implementation of the seven-point agenda. He said it should give priority to the accountability process. It should declare casting of vote mandatory for every voter and undertake other needed electoral reforms to discourage the election of corrupt elements for parliamentary slots. He said the government should also set a limit for election expenditure. In a Press statement issued on Friday, he said after the announcement of the SC verdict the government would no longer be able to give lame excuses to the people who were waiting for positive results. He said the government should have got a vote of public confidence directly through a referendum soon after the takeover. But now the regime should fulfil its promises without any delay and work in accordance with public expectations as it has been provided a period of three years for this purpose by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Reference: PML accepts SC verdict:
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