ISLAMABAD, Oct 7: The Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) has decided to observe October 12 as a “black day” as a mark of protest over the toppling of the Nawaz Sharif government and military takeover in 1999.

This was announced by ARD Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim while briefing reporters after a meeting of the heads of the component parties of the Alliance here on Friday.

Mr Fahim criticized the recent increase in petrol prices and said opposition parties would also lodge a strong protest over this cruel decision of the government.

He said this unprecedented increase in the prices of petroleum products had made the life of the people of Pakistan miserable as they were unable to meet their expenditures due to limited resources.

He said opposition parties would hold protests on the price-hike issue inside and outside the parliament.

The ARD chief said there was a one-man rule in the country and parliament and the Shaukat Aziz government had no powers.

He expressed concern over the rigging in the third phase of the local polls. He said the ruling party had openly violated the election code. He said the prime minister, the chief ministers and ministers actively ran the campaigns of ruling party-backed candidates.

He said that councillors from different areas were taken to Murree, Bhurban and even to Dubai to ensure their votes in favour of the ruling party.

About the meeting of the opposition parties’ steering committee on Saturday, Mr Fahim said the ARD in consultation with the MMA would finalize the strategy to launch a joint struggle for the restoration of the 1973 constitution.

Replying to a question, the ARD chief said opposition parties were trying to get united so that they could launch a forceful movement against the regime.

Sources in the Alliance told Dawn that the senior leadership of the PPP and the PML-N took notice of the reports that opposition candidates had lost the elections in some areas due to their failure to field a consensus candidate.

They said that the leaders of the two parties also discussed the option of converting the ARD into an electoral alliance before the next general election in order to give a tough fight to the ruling party and its coalition partners.