| Brief, vivid picture of Fazl lugging his bulk through a marathon... |
 Maulana Fazlur Rehman, secretary general of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and opposition leader in the National Assembly, said on Wednesday that the religious alliance would not let the government hold mixed marathons and would stage countrywide demonstrations till the release of its workers arrested on April 2.
| "Nope. Nope. Ain't gonna allow it." |
Fazl said the MMA would observe April 8 as a protest day to condemn the police action against MMA activists on the eve of a marathon in Gujranwala. Talking to reporters at Camp Jail in Lahore, Fazl said the MMA would hold a rally from Gujranwala to Lahore on April 16 if the government did not release its activists. Briefing reporters about the MMA's supreme council's meeting in Mansoora with Qazi Hussain Ahmed in the chair, Fazl said the MMA leadership thanked workers, transporters, traders and people for making the April 2 strike a "success". Fazl said that even wives and daughters of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi would support MMA's stance against mixed marathons.
To a question about his participation in the National Security Council meeting, Fazl said: "It is hard to attend the meeting in such a situation but the alliance will discuss it." The Camp Jail administration did not allow MMA leaders to meet the detained activists. |