LAHORE, July 10: The ANP is set to rejoin the ARD, being confident that the alliance leaders will allay its reservations about their policies on provincial autonomy, the Afghan issue and the extent of cooperation with the MMA.

ANP secretary-general Ehsan Wyne told Dawn here on Thursday that the party was likely to join the ARD by the end of July, as talks with the alliance leaders continued. However, he added, the final decision in this regard would be taken by a body formed by the central executive committee at its July 3 meeting in Peshawar.

The body comprised party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan, Mr Wyne, Zahid Khan, Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Aqil Shah, Fareed Toofan and Haji Adeel.

Mr Wyne said that his party would see how close was the ARD to its stance on provincial autonomy and demands for elimination of the concurrent list and grant of only four subjects to the Centre.

He was convinced that other parties in the alliance would have different views on the Afghan issue, but said there would be no problem if controversial matters were not touched upon.

The ANP had quitted the ARD when its chief Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan started delivering speeches in support of Taliban and against the US attack on Afghanistan after 9/11.

Mr Wyne said if the MMA was made an ARD member, then his party might have second thoughts over rejoining it.

He dispelled the impression that the ANP was rejoining the ARD in view of the loss it had suffered in its solo flight in the October elections in NWFP.

“We are not going to forge an electoral alliance. The alliance would be based on two points — restoration of the Constitution and revival of democracy.”

The ANP, an advocate of secular politics, supported the Shariat Bill in the NWFP Assembly because it gave economic and other rights to the masses, he said while answering a question.

“In the 70s, we lent this level of support to Mufti Mahmood Ahmad, father of MMA secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rahman, when the ANP (then known as the NAP) and the JUI formed the provincial government.” The arrangement was made without compromising on election manifesto as “we did not stop them from introducing Islam while they did not stop us from preaching secularism,” he argued.