LAHORE, Jan 19: Lawyers will observe a country-wide strike on Jan 23 to protest the arrest and interrogation of nuclear scientists. "Nuclear scientists are being victimized as part of an agenda which clearly undermines the national interests," lawyers' leaders said at a news conference here on Monday.

They included Pakistan Bar Council executive committee chairperson Kazim Khan, Lahore High Court Bar Association president Hafiz Abdur Rahman Ansari, and the newly-elected president of the Lahore Bar Association Mirza Haneef Baig.

They condemned the arrest and interrogation of scientists and their assistants belonging to the Khan Research Laboratories, including the private secretary to Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder of the country's nuclear programme.

They said the action meant that the nuclear programme, a major national security instrument, was in danger and that the government was out to dispense with it under the mounting external pressure.

The lawyers' leaders appealed to their colleagues across the country to abstain from courts after 10:30am on Friday). The LHCBA and LBA have decided to organize a rally from the high court building to the Masjid-i-Shuhada, The Mall, in protest against the government action.

The lawyers' leaders said the arrest of Maj Islam (retired), the private secretary to Dr A.Q. Khan, spoke volumes of the design of targeting a person who had been associated with the development of the country's nuclear programme since its beginning.

The arrest was clearly aimed at seeking classified information about not only the vital atomic programme but its architect which created fears about the national nuclear programme and its founder.

Referring to a recent statement of US Secretary of State Colin Powel in which he had used abusive language against Pakistan's nuclear scientists, they said the apathy of the government towards the assertions was highly deplorable.

"Gen Pervez Musharraf and his coterie continue to pocket this insult by the only super power which shows the regime is least bothered about this vital national security concern", they added.