LAHORE, May 20: The PML-N, the MMA and some other opposition parties will hold a rally from Nila Gumbad to the GPO Chowk on Monday afternoon to register their protest against the massacre in Karachi on May 12.

The PPP will not participate because of its reservations about the presence of the MMA.

A decision to hold the rally was taken at a conference a few days ago, where the PPP was conspicuous by its absence.

The government has already re-imposed ban on rallies on The Mall, invoking Section 144.

The PML-N said in a press release that a number of its activists had been arrested.

PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif said in a statement from London that everybody was duty-bound to take part in the rally. People of Punjab, he said, regarded the grief of their brethren in Karachi as their own grief.

He warned that any move to stop the rally would lead to the ouster of the rulers. He said those responsible for the tragic killings were criminals and must be held accountable.

Shahbaz Sharif claimed that the exiled leaders would return home and the rulers would quit before the general elections.

The wrong policies of the rulers had turned Pakistan into a country of problems, he said.

He said free and fair polls would not be possible without an independent judiciary.