ISLAMABAD, June 16: Awami National Party (ANP) has in principle agreed to rejoin the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) which it had left in the initial stages of the alliance, informed sources told Dawn on Monday.

According to sources, four ARD leaders Makhdoom Javed Hashmi and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan MNAs (PML-N), senator Mian Raza Rabbani and Naveed Qamar MNA (PPP-Parliamentarians) will visit Wali Bagh Charsadda next Sunday where Mr Wali is expected to announce their joining the ARD.

The ARD leadership, the sources said, had succeeded in persuading Asfandyar Wali Khan president of ANP to rejoin it in order to strengthen its base for the upcoming struggle for the restoration of the supremacy of parliament and Constitution.

Meanwhile, the prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has also indirectly conveyed an offer to the ANP leader to join his government. The offer has neither been rejected nor accepted by the ANP leader Asfandyar Wali Khan, sources said. However, some officials were trying to arrange a visit of the prime minister Jamali to Wali Bagh in the next couple of days before the ARD teams arrival there ostensibly to meet veteran Pakhtoon leader Khan Abdul Wali Khan for inquiring about his health and also to formally invite the party to join hands with him.

Sources also claimed that the government would also offer the ANP a package deal to provide relief to its top leader Azam Hoti in the NAB cases including withdrawal of his arrest warrants issued by a NAB court in Peshawar.

Mr Hoti, it may be mentioned, was awarded imprisonment and fine by a Peshawar NAB court recently. Earlier, he was released on bail on medical grounds.

The ANP it would be worth mentioning had distanced itself from the rest of the opposition during the budget session when the opposition staged en’block walkout from both the lower and upper houses.

Asfandyar Wali Khan whose party has no representation in the National Assembly had taken part along with party’s other senator Ilyas Bilour in the budget debate in the upper house before being postponed till Tuesday morning.