RAWALPINDI, March 9: Tens of thousands of followers of opposition parties marched in Rawalpindi on Sunday to oppose a possible US-led war against Iraq.
The march, organised by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) as part of its “million march” protest series and joined by some other opposition groups, was one of the biggest held in Rawalpindi.
The marchers, many of them coming from other cities and towns of Punjab and the NWFP, formed a huge rally on the city’s main Murree Road where party leaders blasted what they saw as anti-Muslim polices of US President George W. Bush.
They urged Pakistan’s government to oppose the US moves for war at the 15-member UN Security Council, where Pakistan is at present a non-permanent member.
The march started from Liaquat Bagh and terminated about two kilometre north of there outside the city’s main Rawalpindi General Hospital where protest leaders made their speeches from an overhead bridge.
The protesters wore head-bands and carried banners and placards inscribed with slogans calling for peace and condemning the US policies.
“We want peace”, “No war for oil”, “Bush is today’s Pharaoh” read some of them. Some carried cartoons showing Bush sipping human blood. A Bush effigy was also burnt.
The speakers also targeted President Pervez Musharraf for offering Pakistan’s help in the US-led military operation in Afghanistan and some expressed fears that another Muslim country could be the next target after Iraq.
MMA chief Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani said the whole world was up against American war plans.
He said a regime change in Iraq was just an excuse to achieve what he called the real US ambition of capturing oil deposits in the Middles East and strengthening Israel.
“Bush wants to change the map of the Middle East but it is not so easy as all the Muslims would present a united front. It is our religious and moral responsibility to back the Iraqi Muslims,” he said.
MMA parliamentary leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad urged Muslims to unite against what he called “imperialist tendencies” of President Bush.
He said President Musharraf must clarify his policy on Iraq and that Pakistan must vote against the US-sponsored resolution in the UNSC for an attack on Iraq.
MMA secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rehman criticized Gen Musharraf and said army generals had damaged the country in one way or another. He cited the 1971 war in which East Pakistan was lost and the Indian incursion into the Siachen glacier in the 1980s.
He also accused the generals of a role in what he called destruction of Afghanistan by siding with “aggressors” and said they should review their policies and play a role that should be acceptable to the nation.
Giving FBI a free hand is equal to selling away the country’s sovereignty, he said.
The rally was also addressed by Pakistan Muslim League-N acting president Javed Hashmi and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chief Imran Khan.
A large number of women also participated in the protest march. A heavy contingent of police had been deployed at different points to avoid any untoward incident.
RAWALPINDI, March 9: Tens of thousands of followers of opposition parties marched in Rawalpindi on Sunday to oppose a possible US-led war against Iraq.
