ISLAMABAD, April 10: The Grand Democratic Alliance on Tuesday failed to arrive at a consensus on its stand on referendum and decided to meet again on April 15 at Lahore for a final decision.

The GDA, originally formed under the leadership of Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, was replaced by the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy when it was broadened to include Pakistan Muslim Leagues (Nawaz), but PML (Junejo) leader Hamid Nasir Chattha refused to sit with the opponent faction of his party.

The GDA meeting, presided over by Chattha, was attended by Pir Fazle Haq of Jamiat Mashaikh, Allama Zubair Ahmed Zaheer of his own faction of Jamiat Ahle Hadith, Farooq Haider Mawdoodi of a splinter group of Jamaat-i-Islami, Rafiq Pashtoon, Fatehyab Ali of Mazdoor Kisan Party, Aftab Ahmed and Manzoor Hussain.

Fazle Haq, Haider Mawdoodi and Zubair Zaheer stressed the merger of the alliance with the ARD while the others differed and the decision was postponed for the next meeting.

There was also a division on supporting or opposing President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s referendum. Fatehyab even threatened to quit the alliance if the referendum was not supported.