PESHAWAR, Feb 15: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy on the third consecutive day on Sunday continued its protest against what it called the 'autocratic rule' of Gen Pervez Musharraf.

The leaders of the Pakistan People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League, two main components of the alliance, alleged that the country was being run by the opportunist groups, who were mere time-server in the eyes of their masters. They criticized the military rulers for depriving the country of the real democracy by mutilating the spirit of the 1973 Constitution.

The ARD leaders explained the objectives of their week-long protest drive across the country and sought public support for the immediate ouster of Gen Musharraf from his offices.

They said that the return of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and PML chief Nawaz Sharif and the removal of Gen Musharraf had become necessary to protect the country from any impending loss.

Lashing out at the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, they said that the MMA had acted like a government's B team, had started heading towards its logical end. The PPP leaders who spoke on the occasion here at the Chowk Yadgar were Najmuddin Khan, Khwaja Yawar Naseer, Israr Khan, Agha Mazhar Hussain, Arshid Baloch, Ghani Gul Mehsood and the PML-N leaders who spoke were Haji Mohammad Afzal, Abdur Rauf Khan, Arshid Qureshi and Haji Hussain Bakhsh.

A large number of ARD workers remained present at the protest camp. They chanted slogans for the unconditional and immediate release of PML-N acting president Javed Hashmi and Asif Ali Zardari.

The camp was decorated with ARD banners inscribed with slogans against the price-hike, release of nuclear scientists and return of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.