October 27, 2001	Saturday	Shaba'an 9, 1422

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QUETTA, Oct 26: A public meeting of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Defence Council (PADC) on Friday at the Ayub Stadium demanded immediate release of Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and removal of all restrictions on the movement of Jamat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad was to lead a procession in Quetta on Friday and was to be the main speaker at the protest meeting. He was not allowed to come to Quetta and instead his deputy Liaquat Baloch was the main speaker.

A weekly routine affair in the city now, the public meeting was organized by a conglomerate of 26 religious parties to protest against Pakistan government’s support to the US attack on Afghanistan.

Attendance in the meeting was relatively better than last Friday’s gathering.

Seven leaders spoke on the occasion. The main speaker was JI deputy chief Liaquat Baloch who severely criticized President Musharraf.

Maulana Abdul Ghani accused the US and its coalition of conspiring to divide Afghanistan on linguistic and ethnic lines. “If the plan goes according to US designs then it will have serious implications on all the neighbouring countries.”