LAHORE, Oct 8: ARD deputy information secretary Munir Ahmed Khan said on Tuesday that the alliance would file a Rs1 billion defamation suit against Grand National Alliance leaders for making baseless allegations against leaders of the PPP and the PML-N through newspaper advertisements.

In a statement, he said the ARD would also try to find out the unnamed sponsors of these ads and have criminal cases registered against them.

He said the ARD would also approach the chief election commissioner with a request that the sponsors should be asked to give sources of their funds.

These advertisements had allegations Ms Benazir Bhutto and Mian Nawaz Sharif had been making against each other before joining hands on the platform of the ARD.

Munir Khan alleged that the regime had done its best to force the ARD parties to boycott the elections. But, he said, the alliance leaders had decided to stay in the field to make it impossible for the regime to impose its agenda.

He said it was strange that National Alliance leaders against whom several references were pending were not being proceeded against.

He said although the regime had extended all possible cooperation to the PML-QA candidates to ensure their victory, it would not be able to get the desired results.