A large number of Islamists rallied on Friday to denounce the government for ordering an army crackdown on Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa. Protests were held in several towns and cities across the country after Friday prayers but none was very big and there were no reports of trouble, agencies reported. “This chapter has not ended here. The bloodshed at Lal Masjid will lead to an Islamist revolution in Pakistan,” MMA central leader Liaqat Baloch told a rally of about 300 people in Lahore. | Protesters burned effigies of President Pervez Musharraf and US President George W Bush and shouted “Long live the martyrs of Lal Masjid”. |
Staff Report adds: The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) failed to gather the people in Islamabad to protest against the military operation against Lal Masjid. Only about three dozen protesters led by MMA leader Abdul Ghafoor Haidri turned up at Fire Brigade Stop in Sector G-7 and shouted slogans against the government.
In Peshawar, a MMA rally marched from Masjid Qasim Ali Khan to Qissa Khwani Bazaar where NWFP Zakat Minister Hafiz Hashmat, Auqaf Minister Amanullah Haqqani and MMA NWFP Secretary General Shabbir Ahmed Khan addressed the participants. The speakers condemned the military action against the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa administrations, terming it a “brutal act”.