ISLAMABAD, July 26: The All-Parties Conference on Saturday failed to arrive at a consensus on participation in the government-opposition meeting, convened by Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali, on the LFO and the separation of presidential powers from that of the COAS.

The APC, which had been convened by the Pakistan Muslim League-N, announced that it would continue to jointly struggle against the LFO and sweeping powers of the president.

While the parties constituting the ARD reiterated that they would not attend the Sunday talks if the government did not assure them that the meeting would discuss LFO.

The APC was attended by about 30 opposition parties, representatives of the lawyers community, journalists and other organisations.

Earlier, a letter from the exiled PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif was circulated among the participants that urged the participants of the APC to pledge not to repeat the past mistakes.

The APC adopted the Islamabad Declaration, which was read out for the newsmen by PML-N acting president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi.

The declaration — which condemned the removal of an elected government on Oct 12, 1999, issuance of the PCO, holding of the presidential referendum and the Oct 2002 polls, and suspension of the Defection Clause after the polls — urged the government to start talks on LFO for the sake of restoring democracy.

It endorsed the objectives adopted by the APC held at Mansura on July 6 and resolved to start mobilising public opinion with a rally in Rawalpindi on Aug 14. The declaration rejected the LFO, saying it was not part of the Constitution besides calling for holding fresh presidential election.

It called for announcing the schedule in this regard without any further delay. The document called for appointment of a new chief of the army staff and dropping of cases all political workers and leaders, besides stressing on the need for removing obstacles for the safe return of both Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto.

The declaration called for terminating the military’s involvement in politics besides expressing its opposition to the idea of dispatching Pakistani troops to Iraq.

It called upon members of higher judiciary to take oath under 1973 Constitution and also called for stopping moves to pressurize and blackmail assembly members holding certificates issued by Madaris. The document called for withdrawing the Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003 as well as laws endangering security of service for government servants.