LAHORE, April 29: Punjab PPP president Qasim Zia on Monday demanded high treason cases against the MQM leaders for their utterances against the integrity of the country.

Addressing a news conference at the office of his information secretary Naveed Chaudhry, he said the demand that the 1973 constitution should be ignored and a new basic law be framed was against the integrity of the country and the government should take serious notice of it.

He said the 1973 constitution had been unanimously adopted and it could not be abrogated.

Deputy information secretary Altaf Qureshi said the MQM had made no such demand as long as it was an ally of the PPP.

ARD president Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan said at a separate news conference that it was strange that the government was patronizing the MQM despite the fact that its leaders were speaking against the country.

He said Mr Altaf Husain, being a British national, had no right to head the Pakistan-based MQM.

The Nawabzada said the APC-ARD leaders would meet after the referendum to work out their future course of action.