in regards to the military taker over and bared any court in the country for taking any legal actions against Musharraf or those who were responsible for the military coup. Asma Jahangir, a Pakistani lawyer and human rights advocate, reportedly stated: "The military rulers are doing their best to erode the independence of the judiciary. I salute those judges who have refused to take the oath." Aftermath Pardon of Sharif and 2002 referendum On 9–10 December 2000, Chief Executive Pervez Musharraf unexpectedly issued a pardon of Nawaz Sharif and allowed the immediate members of former first family to travel to Saudi Arabia on a private jet provided by the Saudi Royal Family. Details emerged in successive years of this pardon that resulted in a forced signing of an agreement that put him in exile for a decade. However, this agreement was voided in successive years when Musharraf himself went to court to bar Sharif from returning to Pakistan in 2007. In 2016, Musharraf later confessed in an interview given to Kamran Shahid of Dunya that "he pardoned Nawaz Sharif from life imprisonment on the request of King Abdullah and Rafic Hariri". On 12 May 2000, the Supreme Court of Pakistan courted by Chief Justice Irshad Hasan finally legalized the coup but ordered to hold a nationwide election to restore the writ of the government. In 2001, General Musharraf issued the executive decree, of which, President Tarar was of the view that such decree was unconstitutional and illegal. Eventually, Musharraf forcefully removed President from his office when the latter forced President Tarar to forcefully resigned as president. In the light of Supreme Court's verdict, the national referendum was held on 30 April 2002, allowing himself to continue his rule. The referendum, which Musharraf won with almost 98% of the votes in his favour, was alleged by many, including the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, to be fraudulent. Allegations of illegitimacy Human rights groups such as Amnesty International Pakistan and Human Rights Commission and others had denounced the referendum as extremely fraudulent in 2002. The Reuters journalists claimed to see ballot stuffing and pressure to vote being placed on governmental employees. Ibn Abdur Rehman, director of the Human Rights Commission, dismissed the referendum as "farcical", also claiming that votes were stuffed. The Amnesty International Pakistan and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan stated that the voting irregularities "exceeded its worst fears". The