ISLAMABAD, June 25: Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim has decided to convene a two-day meeting of the heads of all the component parties of the alliance in Lahore from July 2, sources told Dawn on Friday.

The sources said the decision to convene the meeting was taken at a meeting of the central coordination committee of the People's Party Parliamentarians held at the party's secretariat here on Friday. The meeting was presided over by Mr Fahim.

They said invitations to the heads of the parties would be sent in a couple of days.

The PPP leaders also discussed the party's relationship with the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and decided not to extend any cooperation to the alliance.

The sources said the party discussed the issue following a request by the MMA seeking the PPP's support in organizing a peace march in the Karachi and in the by-election.

They said it had been decided that the party would challenge the decision of the Election Commission to allot the name of the Pakistan People's Party to the party formed after the merger of the PPP Patriots and the PPP (Sherpao) groups.

A committee comprising Chaudhry Aitezaz Ahsan, Mian Raza Rabbani, Sardar Latif Khosa and Farooq H. Naek was asked to look into the legal aspects of the EC decision so that it could be challenged in a court.

According to the sources, the meeting discussed the implications of the National Security Council after its first meeting held on Thursday.

They said the participants of the meeting took a serious note of the "insulting" remarks passed by President Gen Pervez Musharraf against opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rahman and NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani for not attending the meeting.

They said the meeting reviewed the situation in the wake of rumours regarding removal of Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali. The participants were of the view that those sitting outside parliament had no right to talk about the change of the prime minister.

PPP secretary-general Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Raza Rabbani, Farhatullah Khan Babar, former National Assembly 0speaker Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani, Aitezaz Ahsan, Syed Khursheed Shah, Syed Naveed Qamar, Nawab Yousuf Talpur, Sherry Rahman, Nayyar Bokhari, Malik Hakmin Khan, Kashif Rizvi and others attended the meeting.

When contacted, Mr Rabbani said the meeting reviewed the political situation and discussed the effects of the NSC on parliamentary democracy.

He said the tone of Gen Musharraf in the NSC meeting had vindicated the PPP's viewpoint that the body had been constituted to act as a watchdog on the provinces, the cabinet and parliament.