ISLAMABAD, March 26: Urging the government to immediately stop its operations in FATA, the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) announced it would march towards Wana on March 31 , to express solidarity with the people of tribal areas.

Briefing the newsmen about the decisions taken at an emergency meeting of the heads of the component parties of the alliance here on Friday evening, the secretary general Zafar Iqbal Jhagra said all the main ARD leadership would leave Islamabad for Wana at 11am on Wednesday in a convoy.

The meeting was presided over by ARD chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim. Those who attended the meeting included acting parliamentary leader of the PML-N in National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Tehmina Daultana, PPP secretary general Jahangir Badr, PPP Punjab president Qasim Zia, Nawabzada Mansoor Ahmed Khan, Siddiqul Farooque, Manzoor Gillani, Naveed Malik and Nawaz Gondal.

Mr Jhagra said the alliance had not issued a call to the public to participate in the march. However it would welcome any person to join the march voluntarily, he added.

Replying to a question, Mr Jhagra said the ARD leaders were ready to face any eventuality in case they were stopped by the government with the use of force. "We know that the government will not give us permission to hold a march, but we are ready to risk our lives to express solidarity with the people of tribal areas," Mr Jhagra said.

The ARD leader asked the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the situation and play his role to stop the killing of innocent people of the country.

At the meeting it had also been suggested that the country needed a full time army chief. "Gen Musharraf should immediately announce his successor so that he (new chief) can get time to familiarize himself with the situation", he said.

He feared that the Wana operation would have a serious repercussions. "The violence will spread from tribal areas to the settled areas", Mr Jhagra warned, and said the recent missile attack in Peshawar was an example. He said these tribal people were defenders of the country's western borders and they were doing this job without any financial benefits.

The ARD leader said in the last meeting of the alliance, which was held in Lahore, they had called for stopping the operation in Wana, but the government ignored their demand and intensified the operation.

He said the operation's intensity was at peak during the visit of US Secretary of State Colin Powell to Islamabad.