ISLAMABAD, Dec 7: Dispelling the impression of any deal between the government and the opposition, deputy information secretary of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) Munir Ahmed Khan has said the alliance would not accept Gen Musharraf as president with or without uniform.

Talking to Dawn, the ARD deputy information secretary categorically stated that the alliance believed that Gen Musharraf was an illegitimate ruler as no election was held for the office of the president.

He said there was complete harmony among the component parties of the alliance, including the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), on various issues and the alliance was committed to struggle for the restoration of democracy in the country.

He said there was no truth in the reports that the PPP was striking a deal with the military to accept Gen Musharraf as the country's president without uniform. Mr Khan asked Gen Musharraf to step down in the larger national interest.

He said the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) would not accept elections under the judiciary, bureaucracy or the army. "We want free and fair elections in the country under the supervision of the human rights organizations," he added.

He said the basic difference between the ARD and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA)'s policies was that the religious alliance was ready to accept Gen Musharraf as the country's president, if he shed his uniform by December 31.

Mr Khan was of the view that as far as Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were out of the country, there could not be democracy in the country. He said Asif Zardari had received tremendous applause from the people of Sindh after his release and he would get the same response from the Punjab and all other parts of the country.