KARACHI, April 8: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) on Friday staged rallies and corner meetings across the city after Friday prayers as part of its ongoing movement against poverty, unemployment, obscenity and price-hike, as well as the rule of a military general and granting of approval to the Aga Khan education board.

In response to the MMA’s call, ulema and other religious scholars in their Friday sermons apprised faithful of the demerits of secularism. They criticized the government for perusing a secular agenda and unpopular policies.

Participants of the rallies, most of which were held outside various mosques, adopted resolutions to condemn the government for, what they called, “promoting and patronizing obscenity and trying to undermine Islamic values.”

Holding banners and placards in their hands, the protesters raised slogans the United States and its agents. They also chanted slogans in support of their demands, including a halt to the malicious campaign by the government against Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan.

The main rally was held outside the Karachi Press Club where protesters were addressed by MNAs Mohammad Hussain Mahenti, Abdul Sattar Afghani and Laeeq Khan; and MPAs Nasrullah Shaji, Hameedullah Khan, Younus Barai and Abdul Wahid Shaikh.

They accused the government of putting the country’s integrity and sovereignty at stake and trampling down the religious and ideological identity of the country by promoting obscenity.

They pointed out that contrary to the tall claims of economic prosperity, poverty and dearness were touching a new height while the rulers, instead of providing relief to people, were busy organizing all-gender marathons, secularizing textbook syllabi and making the Sharia laws, like Hudood and blasphemy laws, controversial.

“Our economic policies are being framed as per the dictates of the IMF and World Bank,” they alleged, and said this was resulting in skyrocketing prices of various commodities and unendurable miseries to common man.

If the claims of economic prosperity being made by Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz were true, there should have been a visible change in the lifestyle of the poor class. “Why people are still without potable water; why the graph of people living below the poverty level is going up; and why the benefits of the so-called economic progress are not trickling down to common man?” they asked.

They said that the role of parliament had been reduced to a ‘rubber stamp authority’ while the constitution appeared badly mutilated.