Passing by Sindhi Muslim last night, I noticed a large group of bearded men singing songs. Slightly confused since religion and pop music haven’t always had the best of relations, I stopped to find out what was going on. The words “Kerry”, “Lugar’ and “corruption” featured prominently. Turns out the Jamaat-e-Islami was holding a protest-cum-referendum against the Kerry-Lugar Bill, still a hot topic in the country despite multiple terrorist attacks daily and a ground operation in South Waziristan.

Like any good democratic election, the singing and anti-US merriment was followed by voting. A referendum, to properly gauge the views of the electorate, should be worded neutrally. Here’s how the JI framed the question:

The ‘ballot paper’ read: “It (the Kerry-Lugar bill) is a charge-sheet against country’s sensitive agencies;

”It is an American attempt to capture Pakistans nuclear assets; and

‘‘Is aimed at spreading terror through American security agency Blackwater to continue the massacre of innocent people by American drone attacks and the extension of the American embassy (converting it) into a cantonment.”

‘Voters’ were asked to put a tick-mark on ‘I reject Kerry-Lugar bill ‘ or ‘I don’t reject Kerry-Lugar bill’.

There is actually precedent for such referendums in Pakistan. Back in 1984, Zia-ul-Haq held one so that we could decide if he should continue as president. Knowing how hated he was and how religious the population was, Zia asked the people if they wanted Pakistan to be an Islamic country. When 95% (deduct as many percentage points as you see fit to take into account rigging) of the voters — or 10% of the country — said they did, Zia decided that meant he should stay on as president for another five years. And unlike the JI referendum this one was binding.

So, the electorate, this time defined as JI supporters and those it could bus to its rallies around the country, have voted against receiving $1.5 billion in non-military aid annually. What does this mean? Take into account the JI’s zero seats in Parliament and it means absolutely nothing.