KOHAT, March 5: The business community and general public on Saturday rejected the strike call jointly given by all the component parties of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, banned religious outfits , central leadership of Khatm-i-Nabuwat and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat against the removal of religion column from passports.

The call was given by the central convener of the Khatm-i-Nabuwat conference, Maulana Allah Wasaya, to protest against the removal of religion column from the passport.

The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam and Jamaat-i-Islami and other religious parties had requested the people through announcements by loudspeakers after the Friday prayers to close down their business centres from 12pm to 5pm on Saturday and participate in the protest meeting to be held in Kotwali mosque, main bazaar, Kohat. But to their utter disappointment the business community kept open their shops during the protests, whereas the religious parties could hardly gather few dozen people.

Maulana Allah Wasaya in his speech accused President Gen Pervez Musharraf of deliberately increasing the prices of oil and food items under a well-planned conspiracy to fulfil the US agenda by keeping away the attention of the nation from the real issues facing the Ummah.

He regretted that the opposition and general public had forgotten their religious responsibilities and were busy in the worldly affairs. He said that it was the result of their wrong doings that Muslims all over the world were being killed by the Western powers.

He vowed to continue their struggle till the religion column was restored in the passport and the president and the prime minister were removed from their offices.

The protest meeting was also addressed by the former PML-N MNA and leader of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, Javed Ibrahim Paracha, who lamented the attitude of the people for not taking the issue seriously and warned them of Allah's wrath.

Others who spoke were Qari Abdul Hayee, Maulana Mohammad Saeed and the district chief of Khatm-i-Nabuwat.