May 31, 2002	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 18,1423

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LAHORE, May 30: The top leaders of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy on Thursday deferred a decision on their formal response to the fresh invitation extended to them for a consultative meeting with President Musharraf, saying they needed more time to get views of some other opposition parties.

Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, at whose residence the ARD leaders met to exchange views on the subject, said that he would contact leaders of the all-party conference and the Muttahida Majlis-i- Aml before taking a final decision on the invitation.

According to ARD sources, an alliance leader present in the meeting called on Information Minister Nisar A. Memon in Islamabad to say that the government should also discuss opposition’s demands along with the border situation for which purpose the consultative meeting was called. The leader proposed that a separate session could be held for the purpose.

The sources said that in the next consultative meeting, the date for which would be finalized by the government after President Musharraf’s return from Almaty, all parties would be invited anew, including those who had met the president in the first round which the ARD and the MMA had boycotted.

Official sources told Dawn that if the ARD wanted to discuss its demands with the government, it would have to make a request for the purpose. They said the meeting called by the president was exclusively for situation on the eastern borders and the way the government should handle it.

It is said that Mr Memon informed the ARD leaders on Thursday that the session scheduled for Friday had been postponed.

Those present at the meeting were PPP Senior Vice-Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Punjab PPP President Qasim Zia, Munir Ahmed Khan, PML(N) leaders Raja Zafarul Haq, Saranjaam Khan, Tehmina Daultana, Sardar Zulfikar Khosa and Khwaja Saad Rafiq, Istiqlal Party chief Manzoor Husain Gilani, PML(Q) leader Saifullah Saif and PDP leader Nawaz Gondal.

Analysts say that the participants had deferred the decision as the government had put off the meeting scheduled for Friday.

The Nawabzada, asked what new factors had necessitated more time for discussions when there was no change in the government’s attitude and the ground situation after the ARD had turned down the earlier invitation for talks, the Nawabzada said opposition parties needed more time for mutual consultations.

Raja Zafarul Haq told a questioner that to be able to have national conciliation the government would have to contact the “real leadership” of the country, a reference to Mian Nawaz Sharif and Ms Benazir Bhutto.