ISLAMABAD, Feb 25: The Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly and secretary-general of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), Maulana Fazlur Rehman, said on Saturday night that he and scores of other political leaders had received orders banning their entry into Punjab.

The action has apparently been taken to stop them from taking part in a protest rally to be held in Lahore on Sunday in protest against publication of blasphemous cartoons in some European newspapers.

Maulana Fazl said the parliament area’s magistrate served the written order issued by the Punjab government imposing seven days’ ban on his entry into Punjab.

Chairman of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy and Pakistan People’s Party leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim, is reported to have also received a similar order. He said that his party would fully participate in the rally.

Mr Fahim also said that many leaders of the opposition parties had gone underground to evade arrests. He said that contingents of police and rangers had been deployed in and around Lahore to stop people from entering the city.

Informed sources said that a seven-day ban on entering Lahore had also been imposed on Raja Zafarul Haq, Imran Khan, Sajid Mir and Allama Sajid Naqvi for seven days.—Online