LAHORE, Oct 10: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy on Sunday made an offer to all democratic forces, including the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, to wage a joint struggle to take the country out of what it called autocracy , discarding its earlier condition that the religious alliance apologize to the nation for its role in the approval of the 17th Amendment.

The flexibility in the ARD's attitude towards the MMA was shown after the MMA Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rehman's contact with PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto on the need for cooperation between the two alliances.

The ARD Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim told reporters after a meeting of the alliance leadership components at the residence of Rana Nazrur Rehman that the ARD was in favour a movement against a president in uniform and the restoration of the 1973 Constitution.

He said Qazi Husain Ahmed's contact with Mian Nawaz Sharif and Maulana Fazlur Rehman's talks with Ms Bhutto were a welcome step. "We'll welcome them in our struggle. Talks between the two alliances are going on," Mr Fahim said.

The ARD summit on Sunday was aimed at making preparations for a round-table conference on Monday, to which invitation has already been extended to various parties, a few of them belonging to the MMA.

However, the MMA President Qazi Husain Ahmed told Dawn that so far the ARD had not informed the MMA of its plans to hold an RTC. Instead, he said, the religious alliance had been told that the ARD was holding consultations with various parties.

Qazi Sahib said the MMA was in favour of a joint struggle against those who were out to subvert the Constitution. The religious alliance, he said, was also prepared to sit with other parties to identify the amendments which had disfigured the Constitution and devise a strategy to strike them down. But he made it clear that the MMA would not do anything which implied that religious alliance had committed an offence by playing its role in the adoption of the 17th Amendment.

As for ARD's reported invitation to some MMA components for the Monday RTC, Qazi Sahib said these parties had assured the leadership that they would not take any decision without permission from the leadership.

A Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith spokesman said in a statement that being a part of the MMA, his party would not attend the RTC. The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy Secretary General Iqbal Zafar Jhagra said there was a "positive change" in the attitudes of both the ARD and the MMA. If the religious alliance rejected the 17th Amendment, the ARD would be happy to take it along in its struggle for democracy.

According to him, Makhdoom Amin had been informed that the MMA was now willing to join hands with the ARD against the 17th Amendment if Gen Musharraf refused to hang up his uniform.

He said he had talked to Mian Nawaz Sharif thrice on Sunday and was told by the exiled former prime minister that the ARD should not oppose any party or alliance willing to cooperate for the achievement of the ARD goals.

Raja Zafarul Haq, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Saranjam Khan, Nawabzada Mansoor Khan, Qasim Zia, Naveed Chaudhry, Nafees Siddiqui, Munir Ahmed Khan, Manzoor Gilani and many others participated in the meeting.