LAHORE, Dec 30: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) practically ceases to exist after the refusal of its two major component parties to attend the all parties conference convened by its president Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan in Lahore Thursday last (Dec 27), though some of its office-bearers stress that the alliance is intact.

It was an unexpected decision by the PPP and the ANP as both the parties had no apparent objection to the APC agenda. The decision was kept pending by the PPP until a day before the holding of the APC, giving the impression that the party was trying to use the opportunity for striking some deal with the military rulers.

The plea taken by both the parties for keeping themselves away from the conference was that the Nawabzada had invited pro-Taliban and religious parties to attend the moot. However, the two parties had never objected to the presence of these elements in the ARD before Dec 27.

The parties of Munir Husain Gilani, Qazi Abdul Qadir Khamosh, Allama Zubair Ahmad Zaheer, Syed Nobahar Shah and Mufti Ferozuddin of Karachi and the Nawabzada himself represented these elements on the alliance.

It also seems that Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan has developed the understanding that the alliance no longer exists as he, deviating from his past practice, did not consult his colleagues in the ARD about accepting Gen Pervez Musharraf’s invitation for the Sunday (Dec 30) meeting on the issue of national security. Instead, he contacted the members of the newly-formed APC steering committee for the purpose.

Political circles predict that the APC steering committee may become some sort of election alliance.

The fact that the Nawabzada did not object to or clarify some newspaper reports, calling him as APC steering committee chief and not ARD president, strengthens the impression that he has forgotten the ARD like other alliances of the past and is “happy” with the new “assignment.”