ISLAMABAD, May 2: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), expected to meet here on Saturday, will finalize the dates and venue for holding All Parties Conference to chalk out a joint strategy against what is being termed “fraudulent referendum”.

The ARD leadership, besides finalizing the dates for APC, would also discuss the current political situation “in the wake of referendum fraud,” Information Secretary of ARD Syed Zafar Ali Shah told Dawn.

The decision whether to launch an agitation campaign or gear up for the next general elections would be taken by 15 component parties of the alliance opposing President Musharraf, he added.

Mr Shah said in the proposed APC, political entities who opposed Gen Musharraf’s referendum, including Majlis-i-Amal, would be invited. He ruled out the possibility of pro-Musharraf parties being invited.

The call of boycott given by the ARD, he said, met with success as an overwhelming majority of the people stayed away from the exercise. He termed the statistics given by the government a “fraud”.

The response of the people towards the referendum has cast a pall of gloom over the political aspirants who had supported Gen Musharraf in the hope of reaping benefits in the future.

Some politicians, who had been in the forefront of Gen Pervez Musharraf’s referendum campaign, seemed highly dejected and privately expressed dismay over the voters’ turnout.

They were very restive about the unifying effect the referendum had over the opposition parties, particularly among the arch political rivals Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League (N) and rightwing parties, including the Jamaat-i-Islami.

They were fully convinced that if these political rivals managed seat adjustment in the October elections they would cause serious political problems for President Musharraf and his supporters.

On condition of anonymity, a political leader supporting President Musharraf said the holding of referendum had aggravated political problems confronting the General.

A politician, who had recently merged his faction of Muslim League with the like-minded group, said the government propaganda machinery could not project Musharraf’s “triumph” properly in the independent media.

The politician, who had contributed considerably to the referendum exercise through banners and posters, said the government managed to get 30 per cent genuine votes polled in the referendum but the official media failed to project it.