ISLAMABAD, Oct 3: Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan had succeeded in securing from former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif a joint declaration, enunciating their mutual cooperation for the cause of democracy and the expansion of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy for a mass contact campaign.

A senior ARD leader, who met the late Nawabzada after his arrival in Lahore following his visit abroad, told Dawn with the request for anonymity, that the late ARD president had been assured by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif that they would not, in the future, look towards undemocratic forces under any circumstances and pursue a genuine political and democratic course of action even if they were pitted in opposite camps.

The ARD leader said from Lahore that the late Nawabzada had given copies of the joint declaration to PPP’s Makhdoom Amin Fahim and PML-N’s Makhdoom Javed Hashmi while retaining the original document for the ARD summit meeting in Islamabad.

The ARD is now scheduled to meet here on Oct 7 and discuss, among other issues, the declaration, adding that the alliance would strictly follow the political direction given by the late Nawabzada in the light of his meeting with their exiled leaders.

Another part of the joint declaration, according to the ARD leader, stated that the ARD should discuss if it is to be converted into an electoral alliance or make a loose election arrangement under which at least the two main component parties, the PPP and the PML-N, would arrive at an adjustment of seats to contest the next election.

According to the ARD leader, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif understand that the government might hold early elections if the country’s political situation became unmanageable. The government’s efforts to realign anti-ARD parties had forced the two exiled leaders to think on these lines, he added.

Similarly, the two former prime ministers have desired that a dialogue should be initiated with all the democratic forces of the country, including the Awami National Party, the Tehrik-i- Insaf and Balochistan-based Jamhoori Watan Party, the Balochistan National Party, the Balochistan National Movement and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, to persuade them to join the ARD for launching of a joint mass contact campaign.

Though ARD’s expansion is not part of the joint declaration, the two leaders have express this desire to the alliance leadership here and also assured them that they would be prepared to talk to these parties if a decision is taken to expand it and launch a joint movement.