August 6, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-us-Sani 7, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 5: The representatives of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) have been invited to attend a meeting at the DCO Office on Wednesday morning to discuss the plan for August 14 rally.

A spokesman for the ARD, Ibne Rizvi, told Dawn that the invitation had been extended through a letter addressed to the PPP secretary-general and convener of the ARD committee Jehangir Badr.

He said a similar letter had also been sent to Mohammad Abbas Butt, the Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami, Rawalpindi. Both the ARD and MMA representatives have been asked to meet the acting Nazim, Javed Ikhlas, at 10:30am on Wednesday.

Mr Rizvi said MNA Nayyar Bokhari and Akhtar Mehmood would meet the acting Nazim as ARD representatives.

It may be mentioned here that the call for August 14 rally was jointly given by the ARD and the MMA at the All Parties Conference (APC) in Lahore on July 6.

The rally was part of the anti-LFO protests, launched by the opposition parties for the past nine months. However, after the MMA’s decision to join talks with the government and accepting Gen Musharraf in uniform for another year, differences developed between the two major opposition alliances. Now both the alliances were determined to hold public meeting at Liaquat Bagh on the Independence Day. Both of them separately sought permission from the District Nazim, Tariq Kiani, for the public meeting.