ISLAMABAD, Oct 21: The government has started preparations for the proposed All Parties Conference (APC) it plans to hold next week in an effort to work out arrangements for peaceful general elections.

Official sources said 10 proposals discussed at a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday would be submitted at the conference for preparing a code of conduct acceptable to all parties.

Minister of State for Information Senator Tariq Azeem Khan said Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had been in contact with leadership of most of the parties.

He said that formal invitations would be sent depending on the outcome of the contacts. The opposition parties and alliances, however, have not reacted positively so far as they suspect that the government may enforce its own plan in the name of APC.PML (N) leader Raja Zafarul Haq, who was reportedly contacted by Chaudhry Shujaat on Saturday, has refused to attend such a conference held under the aegis of the ruling coalition.

Chaudhry Shujaat also contacted Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who told him that his party would take a decision about it. When asked if the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal had been contacted, the acting chief of the alliance and Jamaat-i-Islami leader Syed Munawar Hassan said the government’s attitude was selective as it had not contacted the alliance but was picking individual leaders.

He said reports that the president was likely to meet Pakistan People’s Party chief Benazir Bhutto, Chaudhry Shujaat and Maulana Fazal was the proof of this policy. The PPP, which has not been contacted by the PML chief so far, is also skeptical about the objectives of such a conference.

Prime Minister Aziz is keeping himself at a distance from the proposed conference and wants it be convened from the platform of the coalition.

The government is facing criticism for proposing a security plan, which would restrict political activities.

The government has started work on the draft of the proposed code of conduct and security arrangements for the day of general elections.