LAHORE, April 26: The district government finally allowed on Friday the ARD to hold its public meeting at the Minar-i-Pakistan on Saturday where no telephonic address of any leader is expected.

The permission has been granted with four conditions which the ARD has been asked to fulfil.

According to PPP’s Naveed Chaudhry, the ARD has been asked to end the meeting at sunset, arrange for internal security, ensure free flow of traffic around the Minar-i-Pakistan and protect all vegetations and polls inside the venue.

He said the permission was granted at around 10:45am.

When asked about the telephonic address by any political leader abroad which the government had already disallowed, he said Ms Bhutto was not making any such address. In fact, no such address by any leader was on the cards, he said.

The ARD had sought permission for its meeting on Wednesday, also giving a copy of the application to the provincial home secretary.

According to officials in the Punjab government, the District Nazim continued to consider the application till late in the evening on Thursday, assessing all the pros and cons of the meeting. The ARD has started preparing for the rally.

Meanwhile, ARD president Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan condemned the conditions imposed for alliance’s rally on Saturday. There was no reason in putting the time limit on the rally if the ARD was required to arrange for the internal security.

He alleged that the district administration had been impounding transport for carrying people to the public meeting of Gen Pervez Musharraf. Now, he claimed, the vehicles suspected of being used for the ARD meeting were being impounded.

The Punjab PML which met under its general secretary Saad Rafiq here reviewed arrangements for the public meeting.

Mr Rafiq said the meeting would prove a referendum against dictatorship. The people of Lahore would make it a success to reply to the challenge by the rulers.

He claimed that the PML leaders and workers from outstation were being prevented from coming to Lahore to attend the meeting.