QUETTA, Sept 29: The Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy will hold a round-table conference in October in Karachi to chalk out a programme against the 17th Constitutional Amendment and the president's military post and for the democratic rights and civil liberties of the people.

People's Party Parliamentarians leader Nafees Siddiqui said at a news briefing here that he hoped the conference of opposition parties would be held on Oct 8 or 9. He said the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal had sided with the government in the approval of the amendment while the ARD had opposed it and the Legal Framework Order as a whole.

He said the ARD would launch a movement for the restoration of democracy. He said the alliance would seek holding of student unions' elections, trade union rights and reinstatement of employees removed from service under the government's downsizing plan.

He said the ministers facing National Accountability Bureau reference should be removed till they were cleared by courts. They should also not be allowed to participate in the assembly proceedings, he said.