August 31, 2002	Saturday	Karachi, Jamadi-us-Saani 21, 1423

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LAHORE, Aug 30: An emergency meeting of the heads of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) parties has been called for Sept 5 in Islamabad to discuss the situation, specially with respect to the rejection of nomination papers of various leaders.

The alleged pre-poll rigging by the government will also be high on the agenda.

The ARD is not an election alliance but its components are discussing seats adjustment to be able to give a tough fight to the pro-government candidates.

So far, there has been no success in these talks but the leaders of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (N) will continue to exchange views.

The PPP, sources say, wants adjustment on all seats, as a partial agreement, it believes, will not serve any useful purpose.

“It will be counter-productive if the PPP leaders appreciate the PML(N) candidates in one constituency and revile in the other,” an important party leader said, commenting on the possible situation when the two major components of the ARD agree on partial adjustment.

He said such a situation would confuse the voter and, as a result, neither party would get any benefit.

But in case of adjustment on all seats, he said, both parties would be in a position to adopt a uniform policy.

Referring to reports that it had asked the PML(N) to dissociate itself from the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) to facilitate seats adjustment with the PPP, a leader privy to the situation said that such reports were based on some misunderstanding.

The PPP, he said, had told the PML(N) that since they were allies in the ARD, in case of any adjustments between the two the PML(N) should share its own seats quota with the MMA if it wanted to join hands with the coalition of religious parties.

Meanwhile, a delegation of the ARD leaders will meet the ambassadors of the European Union countries in Islamabad on Sept 5 to apprise them of the alleged pre-poll rigging by the government.

To be led by Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, the delegation will comprise PPP President Makhdoom Amin Fahim, PML(N) Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq and ARD deputy information secretary Munir Ahmed Khan.