06 September 2004	Monday	20 Rajab 1425

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QUETTA, Sept 5: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has decided to hold a protest rally here on Sept 11 against the raid on a madressah and search of the house of the alliance's leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed.

Speaking at a press conference at the press club on Sunday, MMA Secretary-General Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidari said the alliance would not remain silent if the government insulted ulema.

He said the raid on the Matalul Aloom Arabia and search of the house the MMA leader by police and security agencies would be taken up in the Senate and the National Assembly and the alliance would protest against the incident.

He said the government was conducting raids on madressahs to humiliate ulema at the behest of the United States. He said local MMA leaders would hold public meetings in the suburbs of the city from Sept 7 to mobilize the people to participate in the rally on Sept 11.

He said a Tahafuz-i-Deeni Madaris conference would be held here on Sept 25, where the opposition leader in the National Assembly, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, would speak. He said a meeting of all the madressahs would be convened to devise a strategy in light of the raids on religious institutions.

Maulana Haidari accused the secret agencies of hatching a conspiracy to create sectarian divisions among the Muslims and alleged that attacks on mosques and imambargahs were a part of such intrigues. But, he said, the MMA had foiled the designs of the government.

He asserted that the government had now started raiding madressahs to create panic among the students and teachers in the religious institutions. The MMA leader said the government must take the people of Balochistan into confidence on Gwadar port, establishment of cantonments and other contentious issues.

He said unilateral decisions on the issues would create misunderstandings and harm the solidarity of the people. He said the devise policies that reflected the aspirations of the people. Provincial Local Government Minister Hafiz Hussain Ahmed Shurudy, MNA Maulana Noor Mohammad and other MMA leaders were also present.