25 December 2004	Saturday	12 Ziqa'ad 1425

SUKKUR, Dec 24: On the call of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, processions were taken out throughout the interior of Sindh including, Sukkur, Ghotki, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kandhkot and Thul on Friday in protest against the president's uniform and deletion of the religion column from the new passport.

Speakers at different places called upon President Gen Pervez Musharraf to shed his uniform in accordance with his promise and warned that street power would force him to quit both the positions.

Though section-144 was imposed in Sukkur to stop the procession and MMA leaders were asked to keep their protest confined to mosques, alliance tried to take out a procession from the Jamia Masjid. However, a heavy contingent of police stopped the participants from marching to the Clock Tower.

In Jacobabad, prayer leaders delivered speeches on the two issues in Friday congregations. A spokesperson for the MMA told this correspondent that processions were taken out in Ghotki, Pano Akil, Naushahro Feroze, Kandiaro, Shikarpur and other cities and towns.

He said that if the government continued to try to stop the religious parties to express their sentiments through imposition of section 144, it should be ready to face consequences.