RAWALPINDI, Jan 25: Acting president of Muttahida Majlis-i- Amal (MMA) Qazi Hussain Ahmad on Sunday warned the government of launching a countrywide protest movement against what he termed harassment of nuclear scientists.

He was speaking at a protest rally organized by the religious parties alliance against the detention and debriefing of KRL scientists and officials. The demonstrators carried banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the detention of scientists.

The government has detained some senior scientists and officials of the Khan Research Laboratories for debriefing for allegedly leaking nuclear technology to Iran and Libya.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad, who is also chief of the Jamaat-i- Islami, a component party of the MMA, said nuclear weapons served as a deterrence to protect Pakistan from external aggression. He alleged that debriefing of scientists was being done on the pressure of the US.

He said Pakistan had so far not signed the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) nor the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), therefore, the US could not pressure it to dismantle its nuclear programme.

"We are ready for every sacrifice to safeguard the nuclear programme," he pledged. He said Pakistan's nuclear programme was for its defence, adding that even Iran and Libya had denied that they had acquired nuclear technology from Pakistan.

There was a time when rulers kept all resources at the disposal of the scientists and directed them to make atomic bombs come what may, Qazi said. Their funds were never audited. But now, under US pressure, they are being harassed, he added.