KARACHI, April 13: The provincial chapter of the Pakistan Muslim League-N staged a protest rally on Tuesday outside the Karachi Press Club against the sentence of acting party president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi.

Addressing the participants, PML-N leaders announced that the party would hold rallies in every district of the province and continue its protest till the release of Javed Hashmi. The participants, who were holding banners and placards, chanted slogans against the government. They condemned the court verdict and demanded release of Javed Hashmi.

Among the speakers at the rally were former Sindh governor Mamnoon Hussain, who is also general secretary of the Sindh PML- N, Nihal Hashmi, Zahid Rafique Butt, Mazhar Ali Magsi and Nasiruddin Mehmood.

Describing the jail-term as part of the government policy to terrorise democratic forces in the country, Mamnoon Hussain lamented that it was for the first time in the history of the country that such a person had been convicted for treason who had been striving for the promotion of Pakistan ideology and for the well-being of the people of Pakistan since his initial days in politics.

He said the judgment was a foregone conclusion and was expected from the rulers who were afraid of democratic forces in the country. He said the party viewed the sentence of Javed Hashmi in the perspective of the statements of federal ministers who had been urging Gen Musharraf not to relinquish the office of the army chief even after the December 2004 deadline.

Mr Hussain said the PML-N workers, who had been striving for the restoration of real democracy since Oct 12, 1999, would continue their struggle for the supremacy of parliament without any let-up.

He said the only crime of Mr Hashmi was that he was an outspoken person who had criticized the rulers for their unilateral ceasefire in Kashmir and for offering talks to India on the Kashmir issue by setting aside the UN resolutions which was contrary to the stand of Pakistan.

The PML-N leader expressed the hope that other democratic forces would join the PML-N in the struggle for restoration of#real democracy in the country. Later talking to a group of journalists, Mr Hussain said the central working committee of the party would meet in Islamabad on Wednesday to decide party's future line of action.

In reply to a question, he said the government was afraid of the return of Shahbaz Sharif and that was why some of the ministers were issuing threats that Shahbaz Sharif would be sent to the prison soon after his landing in Pakistan, or sent back to Saudi Arabia as per the deal struck with the Sharif family.

Mr Hussain said if there was any deal signed by the Sharif brothers for leaving the country then why didn't the government make it public. The PML-N leader said these threats could not prevent Shahbaz Sharif's return who would be soon among the countrymen.