ISLAMABAD, NOV 23: Pakistan Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf plans to hold a referendum in the second half of January to give political legitimacy to his military government.The referendum is likely to be held after Eid-ul-Fitr that marks the end of Ramzan, the Islamic month of fasting.Encouraged by the lack of resistance to the October 12 coup in which he deposed the democratically-elected government of Nawaz Sharif, Gen Musharraf has already started consultations on the modalities of holding the referendum with legal experts, the Jung reported today quoting highly-placed sources.The referendum on whether the military government should continue will be conducted by the election commission of Pakistan.Political observers here, however, do not expect Gen Musharraf to place his government on the line in a direct referendum. He is most likely to seek a mandate for his economic agenda which includes weeding out runaway corruption and putting the terminally ill economy back on the rails. The military government's initial drive to recover defaulted loans from some of the biggest names in Pakistani politics and business generated considerable enthusiasm among the masses, they point out.Plans to hold a referendum indicate that Gen Musharraf is in no hurry to restore democracy, they said. The chief executive has already declared that he will not relinquish power till all the objectives spelled out by him are achieved. Pakistan's deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today claimed that he was still the legal prime minister of the country and whatever steps he took on or before October 12 were legal and in accordance with the constitution.Sharif, who was produced before the anti-terrorist court today in Karachi in connection with the PIA plane hijacking case, was talking to newsmen after coming out of the court.The court had earlier rejected the government's further police remand and sent him to judicial remand at the Landhi jail alongwith four other aides.Sharif said all his actions were according to law and constitution and he was still the legal prime minister of the country.He asked as to under what authority Gen Pervez Musharraff was ruling the country. He said if power and force was the criteria then what was the need of holding fresh elections and democracy.He said after October 12 he was kept in the darkness and he did not know as to what was happening in the country.
