ISLAMABAD, Feb 19: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) has postponed its meeting scheduled to be held in Dera Bugti on February 25 and has announced to hold a public meeting in Lahore on the same day.

The public meeting is being organised in connection with the by-election on a National Assembly seat, said ARD's Secretary General Iqbal Zafar Jhagra.

Talking to Dawn here on Saturday, he said the Dera Bugti meeting had been postponed on the request of the Lahore leadership of the ARD which wanted to hold a public meeting in the city ahead of February 27 by-polls on the seat vacated by Dr Tahirul Qadri. He said the postponement decision was taken in consultation with ARD Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) chief Nawab Akbar Bugti.

Mr Jhagra said PML-N's candidate Nasir Ahmed Bhutta also had support of the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA). He said the main leadership of the ARD and the MMA would attend the public meeting as a part of the election campaign of Mr Bhutta.

Meanwhile, sources told Dawn that the Dera Bugti meeting had been postponed after some leaders and office-bearers of the PPP Balochistan chapter expressed reservations over the ARD's decision.

They, the sources said, had contacted the top PPP leadership and lodged their protest over the decision to hold ARD meeting in Dera Bugti. They had reportedly told the party leadership that Nawab Akbar Bugti and his men had been victimizing them due to which it would not be possible for them to welcome the ARD leaders in Dera Bugti. Moreover, the sources said, there was also a group in the PPP which believed that it was unnecessary to go to Dera Bugti in the present circumstances, as it could damage the ongoing reconciliation process between some Baloch leaders and the government.

When contacted, PPP spokesman Senator Farhatullah Khan Babar said the Dera Bugti meeting had been postponed in view of summoning of the National Assembly session on February 23 by the president of Pakistan. He refused to comment on the reports of differences within the party on the issue and said the ARD would visit Balochistan on a date to be announced very soon.