ARD jont candidates to Face Shaukat in bye-polls Today
By Atif Hussain - Pakistan Times Staff Reporter

LAHORE: The heads of component parties of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy [ARD] met here Monday under the chairmanship of alliance chief Makhdoom Amin Fahim and finally decided to announce consensus candidates under alliance’s platform for NA-59 and NA-229 constituencies today, Tuesday against ruling party;s nominee Shaukat Aziz.

The meeting which was attended by Begum Tehmina Daulatana, Zafar Ali Shah and Zafar Iqbal Ghagra of PML-N, Nawabzada Mansoor Ali Khan of PDP, Syed Manzoor Gilani of IP, Munir Hussain Gilani, Jahangir Badar, Qasim Zia and Munir Ahmed Khan of PPPP and others, decided to bring joint candidate against PML’s candidate Shaukat Aziz but the names of consensus candidates were not announced.

The meeting which remained inconclusive on Sunday due to incomplete discussion on agenda would re-continue today, Tuesday at the Shah Jamal residence of PPPP leader Mian Misbahurehman in the provincial metropolis.

The Probable

An insider was of the view that the names of detained leaders Makhdoom Javed Hashmi of PML-N and Asif Ali Zardari of PPPP also came under discussion for candidates in respective constituencies along with Raja Zafarul Haq and Zafar Iqbal Ghagra of PML-N.

The insiders believed that the ARD leadership would nominate PML-N’s candidate in NA-59 (Attock III) constituency while PPPP’s candidate would be nominated in NA-229 (Tharparkar I) under ARD platform.

Tharparkar Constituency

They were of the view that, in Tharparkar constituency, the ARD would rely on local stalwarts (pirs) as the population of that area mostly comprised Hindu community.

Another insider told that some PPPP leaders tried to convince the ARD leadership in favouring the nomination of party’s candidates in both respective constituencies.

A participant of the meeting, belonging to PPPP, told this scribe that the meeting discussed the matters of Leader of Opposition in National Assembly, forced resignation of Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, nomination of Shaukat Aziz as prime minister-designate, bye-elections and law and order situation.

He said the meeting demanded of the government to conduct bye-elections under the supervision of Human Rights watchdogs, appoint election staff and reshuffle of police and administration in the respective constituencies after developing consensus with opposition parties, if the rulers claim of holding independent elections.

Eschew Interference

The meeting also demanded non-interference of District Nazims in the election process, ban of Chief Ministers and provincial ministers of Punjab and Sindh and freeze of national as well as district funds except the salaries of the employees in the Attock and Tharparker constituencies, the PPPP leader said.●