April 5, 2003	Saturday	Safar 2, 1424

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RAWALPINDI, April 4: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) staged a demonstration here on Friday to condemn the US-led invasion of Iraq. Scores of people joined the procession.

The faithful gathered at Chungi number 22 from different mosques after Friday prayers. They were holding banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the US President George W Bush and his partners to the aggression against an independent and sovereign country.

The MMA leaders including the deputy secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami Fareed Ahmad Paracha made speeches.

In his speech, Mr Paracha urged the Muslim countries to sink their differences and make concerted efforts to stop the war. “If the United States was not stopped now, tomorrow other Muslim countries would also meet the same fate,” he warned. He said the war on Iraq was unjustified and a blatant violation of international law.

Mr Paracha criticised the UN for its failure in stopping the war. He said the illegal war had laid bare the fact that the United Nations was an ineffective body and added that it was time the UN proved its worth or else it would meet the fate of the League of the Nations. Dr Kamal called on the world leaders to intervene in the Iraqi crisis and do something to save the world from chaos and disruption.

A reporter from Islamabad adds: The Islamabad chapter of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) held a demonstration here to condemn the US-led aggression against Iraq and express solidarity with the Iraqi people. The protesters chanted anti-war and anti- US slogans and also burnt the effigy of the US president.

Speaking on the occasion, local MMA leaders said the US was killing innocent people in Iraq under the lame excuse of ridding them of an ‘oppressive regime’. They criticised the leadership of the Muslim countries for facilitating the Anglo-American coalition in their aggression against Iraq.

“These leaders are responsible for the genocide of Afghans and Iraqis, as they provided bases to the US forces in the two wars,” they said.