October 9, 2003	Thursday	Sha’aban 12, 1424

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RAWALPINDI, Oct 8: The component parties of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) here on Wednesday paid glowing tributes to late Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan during a reference in memory of the veteran politician.

The new ARD chairman, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, and president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi also pledged on the occasion to follow in the footsteps of the Nawabzada and to speed up their fight against the “dictators and generals” till the restoration of “true democracy” in the country.

They said the two factions had buried for ever all the bitterness they had for each other in the past.

Mr Hashmi said the Nawabzada was the martyr of democracy as he strived to unite the leaders of Pakistan People Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz till his death.

He said the ARD would never allow President Musharraf to address the Parliament. Another person would be elected as president as Musharraf had “sold out the country’s sovereignty”, he added.

He said they were ready to vote for a member of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal if he contests for the president’s slot.

Mr Hashmi said the PML-N would observe October 12 as black day in Rawalpindi and launch a countrywide strike against the army-controlled government from October 23 by organising an anti- government rally in Peshawar.

The ARD chairman, Amin Fahim, and MMA leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said their parties would never allow an individual or any institution to abolish or amend the sacred 1973 Constitution.

Mr Fahim also condemned the army operation in the tribal areas.

Others who appreciated the services of the Nawabzada included MNAs, Babar Awan and Khwaja Saeed Rafique, Sadiqul Farooq and Syed Zafar Ali Shah, the central secretary information and central vice-president of PML-N, and Begum Najma Hamid.