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Pak opposition calls for
Musharraf's resignation

K J M Varma in Islamabad

Terming the results of Tuesday's referendum as "fake and exaggerated," Pakistan opposition parties have demanded resignations of President Pervez Musharraf and Chief Election Commissioner Irshad Hassan Khan charging them with holding a "sham" vote.

Shortly after Khan announced the results late on Wednesday night, the mainstream political and religious parties started asking for Musharraf's resignation and re-constitution of the election commission.

Leading the charge against Musharraf, who won the referendum with an unprecedented 98 per cent "yes" votes, chairman of the 15-party Alliance for Restoration of Democracy Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan and president of Jamaat-e-Islami Qazi Hussain Ahmad said the president should adhere to the "real verdict" of the people and step down.

Rejecting the results, Ahmad in a statement demanded immediate resignation of the chief election commissioner to ensure transparency in the general elections to be held in October.

He said despite the glaring facts, the CEC was bent upon announcing "fake and exaggerated" results. "This has deprived the election commission of the moral footing in the eyes of [the] nation," he said.

Addressing a May Day seminar in Lahore, Nasrullah Khan demanded setting up of a caretaker government as well as an independent election commission to hold general elections.

PTI

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