ISLAMABAD, July 1: A meeting of the heads of component parties of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) has been convened in Lahore on July 5, a source told Dawn.

The meeting, the source said, had been called to finalize the strategy regarding the by-elections in Attock and Tharparkar in which the prime minister-designate Shaukat Aziz would contest.

He said the ARD would try to develop a consensus between the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-N, the two component parties of the ARD, to field joint candidates against Shaukat Aziz.

The meeting will also discuss the new situation evolved due to recent political changes in the country. The source said the ARD leaders would also finalize a protest plan against the killings of PPP activist Munawwar Suharwardy in Karachi and PML-N leader Pir Binyamin Rizvi in Lahore.