19 February 2005	Saturday	09 Muharram 1426

ISLAMABAD, Feb 18: The Independent Democratic Group (IDG), formed by senior politicians, has decided to formally join the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), sources told Dawn here on Friday.

The group was formed on January 25 this year by the senior politicians drawn from the four provinces to wage struggle for restoration of 1973 Constitution and undiluted parliamentary democracy.

Prominent IDG leaders are Syed Fakhar Imam, Syeda Abida Hussain, Ilahi Bakhsh Soomro, Sardar Wazir Ahmed Jogezai, Syed Iftikhar Gilani, Mian Azhar, Nawabzada Mohsin Ali and Ghulam Sarwar Cheema.

At the time of the formation of the group, the IDG leaders had announced to cooperate and join anti-Musharraf movement, launched by any opposition group. When contacted, ARD secretary-general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra said the Alliance had so far not received any request from the IDG in this regard.

However, he said, the alliance would welcome any individual or party in its fold, who wanted to wage a struggle against the dictatorship and military rule. Mr Jhagra said the ARD membership committee would make a decision regarding IDG's entry to the alliance only after receiving a formal request in writing.

Zafar meets Hashmi: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chairman, Raja Mohammad Zafarul Haq, on Friday met the acting president of the party, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, at Adiyala Jail and discussed with him the political situation in the country and matters related to the party's reorganization, a source told Dawn.

The source said the PML-N chairman held a one-to-one meeting for about an hour with Mr Hashmi, who had been serving a 23-year jail term on charges of mutiny. He said during the meeting, the PML-N leaders finalized the reorganization of the party and discussed the possibilities of launching a joint movement against the government with the MMA.

He said Mr Haq briefed the jailed leader about the recent meetings between the leadership of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA).