LAHORE, April 2: Punjab MMA President Liqat Baloch has said the alliance will stage peaceful protest on Tuesday (today) despite the arrest of a `large number’ of its workers and detention of its head Qazi Hussain Ahmed.

At a press conference here on Monday, he said the MMA would not surrender its right to peaceful protest because it believed that the constitution of Supreme Judicial Council was controversial, and its proceedings were against the 1973 Constitution.

He claimed that the Punjab chief minister had ordered detention of political leaders and workers in the province.

He said the MMA would not only stage protest in Islamabad, but also take part in the rally being organised by lawyers from Aiwan-I-Adal to Nasser Bagh in Lahore today. He said the opposition parties had also agreed to give a strike call.

He said Jamia Hafsa students had been given a free hand in Islamabad because President Gen Musharraf wanted to maneuver the situation to create justification for prolonging his rule. There was no provision for the appointment of an acting chief justice of the Supreme Court, he added.

He said the government had double standards in politics as the ruling PML was free to hold public meetings and rallies using official resources, but the opposition was denied the right.