New Delhi: In a significant development, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has asked the country's Election Commission to burn all the official records of his April referendum, a web newspaper has reported.

"The last of Musharraf's despicable acts was his order to the Election Commission to burn all the official records of his April referendum," the 'South Asia Tribune', run by noted Pakistani journalist Shaheen Sehbai, said in its editorial.

Stating that there could be nothing more incriminating than this, the newspaper said, "by this order he (Musharraf) has admitted before the world that he was there as a result of a fraud perpetrated upon the nation."

It said that whatever little pretence of "an argument was there for him to cling on as President of country, has now been lost...it is now immaterial whether the Election Commission actually destroys the record or is stopped at the last minute by any court, the damage has been done."

Shaheen, who is now based in the United States, even went on to question his holding of high office of the country saying that "Musharraf cannot claim to be President of the country by virtue of the referendum. So why and how is he going to stay on."

Commenting on new Prime Minister Mir Zaffarullah Khan Jamali, it said that he was keeping his feet to the ground, referring to his statement that "why should I go on TV when I have nothing to offer at the moment," he said.

Jamali is thus smart in sticking to his humble posture of a poodle "...till he grabs a weapon before he can fire back".

PTI