KOHAT, Oct 15: Several anti-US protest rallies were taken out in the district on Monday to condemn attacks on Afghanistan.

Traders observed a complete shutter down, while the lawyers community boycotted courts to express solidarity with the Afghan people.

Begum Zeenat Mairaj, chief of women wing of Jamaat-i-Islami, NWFP chapter, led a big anti-US protest procession from Jangle Khel to Company Park.

The women protestors after marching through various bazaars and streets of the city gathered at the Company Park where Begum Zeenat Mairaj addressed the participants.

A big meeting was held at the shrine of Hazrat Haji Bahadur which was addressed by the leaders of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, Pakistan Muslim League (N), Jamaat-i-Islami, Sunni Tehrik, Jaish-i-Mohammad, Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, representatives of the business community and office-bearers of Kohat Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Most of the participants of the rallies were school, college and Madressah students who are on vacations these days after the government closed down all the educational institutions.

Begum Zeenat Mairaj in her speech warned the rulers that the US and its allies were eying Pakistan and not the war-ravaged Afghanistan and using Osama bin Laden as a pretext to achieve this goal. She urged the womenfolk to play their due role in the present crisis and extend moral support to their men for joining Jihad.

The leaders of various political parties while speaking at a public rally at the shrine of Haji Bahadur criticized the government for offering airbases to the US. They said that every Pakistani had contributed in the shape of heavy taxes during the last 30 years for making Pakistan a nuclear power and for the strengthening the Pakistan Army but at this moment when their sacrifices were most required they had turned their back in the wake of brutal attacks on Afghans.

The meeting was addressed by Mohammad Abid of Jamaat-i-Islami, former PML (N) MNA Javed Ibrahim Paracha, president of Kohat Chamber of Commerce and Industries Manzoor Ahmed Paracha, divisional president of Sipah-i-Sahaba Abid Paracha, chairman of Mushtarika Markets Union Haji Gulzar Ahmed, Sher Khan Bangash and Maulana Fateh.