March 24, 2003	Monday	Muharram 20, 1424

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LAHORE, March 23: Tens of thousands of supporters of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and other opposition parties marched here on Sunday from Nasser Bagh to the Charing Cross on The Mall to condemn the US-led attacks on Iraq and the Pakistan government’s apologetic stand on the issue.

It was the third in a series of protests being organized by the MMA. The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Jamaat Ad-Daawa, the Anti-War Committee, and many smaller political parties and various other organizations joined the march.

A good number of marchers had come from other towns, as far as Multan and Rahim Yar Khan.

Lahorites continued to pour in the Nasser Bagh in small processions till 2:30pm when organizers announced the start of the march.

A few PPP activists, riding motorcycles and carrying party flags, were also seen on the occasion though the PPP leadership had not given a green signal in this regard. They said they were attending the march on their own to show solidarity with Iraqi people.

Many demonstrators left for the Charing Cross, over two kilometres from the Bagh, even before the leaders who spoke to protesters from a large stage set up with the help of containers.

MMA chief Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani, ARD president Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, MMA parliamentary leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad, PML-N chief Javed Hashmi and secretary-general Fazlur Rehman warned the United States of serious consequences. They chided the Pakistan government for not condemning the US invasion.

Demonstrators wore headbands and carried banners and placards inscribed with anti-war, anti-US and pro-peace slogans. Some of them read: “What is worthy, oil or blood?”, “Dump Bush”, “Bush is today’s pharaoh”, “World is united against war”, and “Stop FBI raids on Arab refugees”.

Some protesters carried caricatures of US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Dozens of effigies of the two leaders were burnt.

A large number of women also participated in the march. Heavy contingents of police were deployed at different points and on rooftops along the march route.

The Anarkali Traders Association and the Lahore High Court Bar Association welcomed the marchers when they passed by Anarkali Bazaar and the high court, respectively.

AFP adds: An estimated 200,000 people took to the streets of Lahore on Sunday in what is believed to have been Pakistan’s biggest demonstration yet condemning attacks on Iraq.

“It was like a human tempest, one could see only heads of people,” an AFP reporter watching the crowd from a rooftop said.

The protest was the first large-scale demonstration against the invasion since US and British bombs and cruise missiles began raining down on Iraq at dawn Thursday.

The MMA will organize its fourth rally of the “million-man-march” series in Peshawar on March 30.

The decision was taken at a summit meeting of the MMA constituents after the march here on Sunday evening.

The six-party alliance is holding the marches to protest US-led attack on Iraq.

The MMA will hold its fifth such rally in Quetta on April 2 and sixth in Multan on April 4.

It has also decided to observe March 28 as the countrywide protest day against the US invasion.

People will be appealed to hold peaceful demonstration on the day. However, no call for strike will be given, said an MMA official attending the meeting.

The meeting also amended the MMA constitution extending the tenure of the incumbent office-bearers of the alliance for two more years (up to March 23, 2005).

The meeting was continuing till the filing of this report at 11:15pm.