LAHORE, April 5: The PPP and the PML-N have already settled some basic issues to contest the next election as allies, ARD president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi said on Wednesday. In a statement, Mr Hashmi said the ARD parties would have to go for the polls as allies, not rivals. He insisted that the agreement reached between the PPP and PNA leaders in 1977 could serve as a beacon of light for political forces.

He said Z A Bhutto, Pir Pagara, Sherbaz Khan Mazari, Nawabzada Nasrullah, Prof Ghafoor Ahmed and Mufti Mehmud had worked out the accord, alleging it was sabotaged by the generals keen to rule the country.

Hashmi said once all political forces got united on the basis of the said accord, the army would have to go back to the barracks.

He was critical of the government for arresting various opposition leaders who had slated the blasphemous cartoons. It was regrettable, he said, political opponents of the government were being ‘victimised’ on the basis of what was essentially a religious issue.

Meanwhile, PML-N MNA Tehmina Daultana on Wednesday called for the formation of a judicial commission, comprising judges who had refused to take oath under the PCO, to try Saad Rafiq and Zaeem Qadri.

At a news conference, where she was flanked by wives of both arrested leaders, Ms Daultana said she would raise the matter in the National Assembly and every other forum which could provide any relief.— Staff Reporter