LAHORE, Oct 22: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal will hold a protest rally and stage a sit-in in Sargodha against rigging by PML-Q nominees and torture and arrest of MMA activists.

It has also decided to “review” the performance of local governments and introduce legislation to check their involvement in politics.

A decision to this effect was announced at a press conference held here on Tuesday after parliamentary party meeting of the six-party alliance.

Punjab MMA president Hafiz Idrees said Nazimeen under the patronage of the army government, indulged in politicking violating the Local Government Order. They used public funds and other resources to ensure win of pro-Musharraf candidates, he alleged.

He said the MMA had in its central council discussed the misuse of local governments in the referendum and in general election and had decided to reorganize these institutions after government formation process was completed.

Mr Idrees regretted that the PML-Q nominees had rigged the polls but the police arrested the MMA activists who had protested against it.

He said the MMA parliamentary party leader in the Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Asghar Gujjar would lead the protest rally in Sargodha on Oct 26.

He said the MMA was collecting information on rigging in the constituencies where its nominees were in the run and would bring out a white paper on the basis of this information within a couple of weeks.