LAHORE, Jan 1: PPP Senior Vice-Chairman Makhdoom Amin Faheem has informed party chairperson Benazir Bhutto about the resignation of Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan as ARD President. However, the PPP will take a decision on the future of the alliance in consultation with other constituents, the Makhdoom said on Tuesday. The Nawabzada had resigned on Monday, saying the PPP’s abstention from the Dec 27 all-party conference amounted to a no-confidence in him after which he did not think it fair to stay on as head of the year-old coalition. The Nawabzada says his party, the Pakistan Democratic Party, will stay in the alliance and also work for the achievement of the goals the coalition had been formed. But, he insists, the alliance should now choose a new leadership who enjoyed the confidence of all parties.

PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto had phoned the ARD leader on Monday evening but the latter did not tell her that he was going to step down as the alliance chief.

A number of ARD leaders met the Nawabzada here on Tuesday and requested him that he should stay on as alliance president.

When the PPP Senior vice-chairman was asked for comment on the reason cited by the octogenarian leader for stepping down, he said his party had said in very clear terms that it fully supported the ARD’s charter but was abstaining from the conference for some other reasons. He said the Nawabzada’s decision was astonishing for his party.

The PPP leader said he could not say anything about the future course of action or the future of the alliance unless he talked to other parties in the ARD. He said he was not in a position to say at this juncture how long would it take him to complete contacts.

ARD Secretary-General Iqbal Zafar Jhagra said the Nawabzada’s decision was a setback to the alliance. He said he had contacted the senior leader by phone on Tuesday to request him that he should take back his decision.

Mr Jhagra said he would establish contact with other parties in the alliance to make collective efforts to have the resignation withdrawn. An ARD meeting, he said, would be convened soon to discuss the matter.

He said the alliance needed the Nawabzada’s leadership for the restoration of a representative political system.

PML(N) Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq said the Nawabzada was the only leader who had the skill to keep together parties of divergent programmes and thinking. In his opinion, the retention of the ARD was imperative to keep the government under pressure to hold elections according to the time frame set by the Supreme Court.

Answering a question, he said if the PPP had not decided to finish the ARD or part ways with it, it would not like the Nawabzada to step down.

He said his party could not play any role in convincing the PPP to change its thinking as being a political rival motives would be attributed even to a very sincere initiative. He said the survival of the ARD now depended on the PPP, and in case it decided to quit, the alliance would disintegrate, leaving all constituents to take individual decisions in the light of the changed situation.