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| May 27, 2005 | Friday | Rabi-us-Sani 18, 1426 |
Five major MMA rallies today against desecration
ISLAMABAD May 26: Five major rallies have been planned in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta for Friday as part of the “international protest day” called by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal against the desecration of the Holy Quran by American soldiers in Guantanamo Bay.
The government has taken stringent security measures to maintain peace and order during countrywide protest rallies and demonstrations. The women wing of the religious alliance has also decided to participate in protest demonstrations.
Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, MMA’s deputy secretary general Liaquat Baloch said that protest demonstrations will be held in 34 Muslim countries on Friday and in 15 other countries on Sunday.
He said the local MMA and like-minded political and religious leadership will also organize protest rallies in all districts, tehsils and towns of the country. He said the MMA had invited all political and religious parties to take part in protest demonstrations.
In addition, he said, minorities including Sikhs, Hindus, and Christians had also been invited to join the protest against the desecration of the Holy Quran and “they have assured their participation”.
The religious parties’ alliance on Thursday claimed to have won the support of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League as its president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi approached the leadership to take part in the demonstration.
However, according to Mr Baloch, the offer was declined by the MMA owing to “fear of a clash” between the opposition and the official party workers. The countrywide demonstrations will coincide with the presence of US Assistant Secretary of State Ms Christina Rocca in the country.
MMA president Qazi Hussain Ahmed will lead a rally on the Constitution Avenue outside Parliament House with Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) chairman Raja Zafarul Haq and other senior leaders.
The alliance had earlier announced holding its biggest demonstration at Aabpara but then decided to organize it on the Constitution Avenue to provide maximum space to protesters.
Maulana Fazlur Rahman will lead a protest demonstration in Peshawar, Syed Munawwar Hasan and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed in Karachi, Liaquat Baloch in Lahore, and Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani in Quetta.
Mr Baloch said that the May 31 Lahore meeting of the alliance’s supreme council will take a decision on whether NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rahman should participate in the June 8 meeting of the National Security Council or abstain it.
He said it was in the interest of the government to review its foreign policy in the light of the sacrilege incident. He demanded that the government make sure that the US took suitable action against the desecrators of the Holy Quran otherwise worldwide criticism and hatred against it (the US) will increase. He played down the proposed meeting between Maulana Fazlur Rahman and visiting US Assistant Secretary of State Ms Christina Rocca, describing her a second-string official of the American administration.
The Maulana, in his capacity as Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, had earlier declined an invitation to meet Ms Rocca along with other opposition and official parliamentarians.
Meanwhile, the women wing of the MMA has completed preparations for observing the world protest day by bringing tens of thousands of women and children holding Quran in their hands who will converge on the Serena Park on to join the main protest.
According to a press release, Senator Dr Kausar Firdaus and MNA Sameea Raheel Qazi will lead the rally in Islamabad, Ayseha Munawar in Karachi, Shagufta Naz in Peshawar, and Begum Qazi Hussain Ahmed in Lahore.
QUETTA: The Jammat-i-Islami’s women wing and Baloch Students Organization held two separate demonstrations here on Thursday.
The JI held the demo against the desecration of the Holy Quran in Guantanamo Bay while the BSO held its protest demo against the killing of three persons in Quetta.
MNA Balqis Saif and MPA Semina Saeed addressed the JI rally in front of the press club. They said the sacrilege incident had hurt the sentiments of the Muslim Ummah. They said that only through unity Muslims could counter the designs of the “infidel forces” against Islam.
In the other demonstration, MPA Mir Muhammad Akbar Mengal of BNP-Mengal and BSO leaders Mohinuddin Baloch and Javed Baloch condemned the killing of four Balochs by law enforcement agency in Quetta on Monday night.
They said that usurpers always targeted innocent Balochs. They added that the oppressors had been involved in excesses against people of Balochistan right from the beginning.
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