15 January 2005	Saturday	04 Zilhaj 1425

ISLAMABAD, Jan 14: The Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) has urged the Commonwealth and the European Union (EU) to take notice of the speech delivered by Gen Pervez Musharraf on December 30 last year , declaring that he will not put off his army uniform.

Talking to Dawn on Friday, the ARD deputy information secretary, Munir Ahmed Khan, said a meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Group was scheduled to be held in the last week of the current month and expressed the hope that it would take notice of the fact that there was no democracy in Pakistan.

Mr Khan, who is also a member of the PPP's foreign liaison committee, reminded the Commonwealth that it had restored the Pakistan's membership conditionally by saying that the country was heading towards democracy after the announcement of Gen Musharraf to put off his uniform by December 31, 2004.

However, he said, after Gen Musharraf's refusal to quit one office, it was clear that Pakistan had made no progress towards democracy.