ISLAMABAD, Dec 3: Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) leaders on Friday decided not to participate in the first public meeting of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) to be held in Malakand on Dec 6 , informed sources told Dawn on Friday.

They said the decision of the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) to change the venue of the public meeting from Peshawar to Malakand without taking the PML-N leadership into confidence had created a difference of opinion between the two parties.

On Nov 27, acting parliamentary leader of the PML-N Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had complained that the PPP had not consulted his party before changing the venue. On the other hand, People's Party Parliamentarians secretary-general Raja Pervez Ashraf claimed that the decision was taken in a meeting in Peshawar which was also attended by PML-N secretary-general Saranjam Khan.

Mr Ashraf said as by-election was being held there on Dec 15 on a National Assembly seat, the venue had been changed. When contacted, Raja Pervez Ashraf expressed his ignorance about the decision of the Pakistan Muslim League that its senior leaders would not attend the public meeting in Malakand.

Defending the decision to change the venue, he said the Malakand public meeting would have a positive impact on the by-election as well as the anti- government protest movement. He said that ARD chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim would also attend the public meeting in Malakand.