LAHORE, March 30: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy on Tuesday decided to call off its march on Wana, scheduled for Wednesday (today), as the government halted its operation in the area.

However, a leader of the PML-N said that a new programme for the march would be decided in case the operation was resumed. MMA's acting secretary-general Hafiz Husain Ahmed, smelling that the two major components of the ARD did not have harmony of thought on the subject, offered the PML-N the religious alliance's cooperation to undertake the march on Wednesday or a later stage.

The ARD had decided recently to go to Wana to express solidarity with those who had lost their family members as a result of the operation or whose houses had been demolished.

The PPP, however, contended that the march was unnecessary as the government had stopped the operation under pressure from opposition parties. The PML-N stuck to its point of view and a party MNA said at a news conference in Lahore on Monday that the opposition leaders would go ahead with their plan, and even defy the ban imposed by the authorities.

On Tuesday, ARD Secretary-General Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and PML-N leader Tehmina Daultana met PPP-Parliamentarians Secretary-General Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and exchanged views on the situation.

It was decided that the Wednesday march would be called off. However, the PML-N sources said that the party could go for a solo march in case the government continued the operation, opposed by all major parties.

The possibility of a march on Wana exclusively by the PML-N could not be ruled out, Khwaja Saad Rafiq said in a statement on Tuesday. PPP sources said that while the operation was condemnable, a march on Wana would be 'over-reaction'.

MMA leader Hafiz Husain Ahmed said the religious alliance had delayed its March 31 march to facilitate the ARD to carry out its programme. But now that the PPP was reluctant to go to Wana, the MMA would be happy to join hands with the PML-N to visit the operation areas and express solidarity with the victims.