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ISLAMABAD Jan 7: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal on Friday launched the second phase of its protest campaign against President Pervez Musharraf's decision to retain the office of the army chief.
In Islamabad, a demonstration was organized by the alliance at Aabpara Chowk, which according to an estimate was attended by about 500 people.
Prominent MMA leaders were absent from the protest demonstration as Qazi Hussain Ahmed was presiding over Jamaat-i-Islami's three-day Shoora meeting in Lahore, Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rahman was away from the federal capital and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed was reported to be in Sargodha.
The demonstration was led by alliance's MNA from Islamabad Mian Muhammad Aslam. He said that the movement would continue till Gen Musharraf was removed from power. He said that no military ruler in the past, Gen Ayub Khan, Gen Yahya Khan and Gen Ziaul Haq, had left in an honourable manner. Maulana Nazi Farooqi and Sohail Abbasi also spoke.
OUR QUETTA CORRESPONDENT ADDS: MMA staged a demonstration here as part of its campaign against Gen Musharraf's decision to retain the uniform and exclusion of religion column from passport.
A procession was taken out after Friday prayers that terminated in front of local press club. Speakers accused the government of facilitating Qadiyanis by omitting the religion column from passports.
Provincial minister Maulana Abdur Rahim Bazai, MNA Maulana Noor Mohammad, former minister Maulana Allahdad Khairkhwah, Maulana Abdul Qadir Luni and Zahid Hussain spoke on the occasion.
They accused President Musharraf of undermining people's constitutional rights and stressed the need for the MMA and the ARD to jointly wage a struggle for the removal of rulers.
They said that the MMA leadership had tried to provide the army with an honourable exit from politics by backing the 17th Amendment so that the armed forces could concentrate on their traditional role of protecting national frontiers.
