ISLAMABAD, May 27: Big rallies were held all over the country on Friday on Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s call for a day of worldwide protests against the desecration of the Holy Quran by US personnel in the Guantanamo Bay detention centre. Processions and meetings were held in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and other cities and towns. Protesters everywhere demanded an unqualified apology for the outrage from the US as a minimum remedy.

Thousands of people attended a big rally at the Jinnah Avenue in Islamabad, which was led by MMA president Qazi Hussain Ahmed. The protesters were first gathered at Aabpara Square from where they marched up to the Jinnah Avenue.

The participants carried banners and placards inscribed with slogans condemning the sacrilege. A large number of women and children, some of them holding the Holy Quran also attended the rally. They were led by MMA’s senator Dr Kausar Firdaus and MNAs Sameea Raheel Qazi and Bilquis Saif.

Other political and religious parties represented at the rally included Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, PML(N), Jamaat Dawah of Hafiz Saeed and the Pakistan Christian Action Committee.

Many speakers condemned the bomb blast that had ripped through Bari Imam Shrine earlier in the day and described it as an act of terrorism and a conspiracy to sabotage the MMA rally.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed claimed that protest rallies and demonstrations were held or would be held in all major world cities, including Washington, New York, London and cities and towns of Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Saudi Arabia, Palestine and Kashmir.

He said the withdrawal of its report about the desecration of Quran by Newsweek under pressure had exposed the level of press freedom in the US, adding that people returning from the Guantanamo Bay prison had told many more harrowing stories about American soldiers’ contemptuous attitude towards Islamic symbols including the Holy Quran.

He held General Pervez Musharraf responsible for the misery that Pakistani prisoners suffered at the infamous prison saying that he had handed over them to the US authorities.

Former ISI chief Gen (retd) Hameed Gul, Qari Gul Rahman of JUI(S), Maulana Nazir Farooqi of JUI(F), AJK, and Hafiz Saeed of Jamaat Dawah also addressed at the rally.

In Lahore, the main protest meeting was held outside the Press Club. The meeting was attended by former president Rafiq Tarar and PML-N’s Raja Zafarul Haq, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, and Zulfikar Khosa. Prominent speakers included Liaquat Baloch, Hafiz Salman Butt, Saifullah Saif, Riaz Durrani, Maulana Amjad Khan, Ajmal Qadri, Abdul Ghaffar Aziz, Qari Zawwar Bahadar, Rana Nazr-ur-Rehman and Hafiz Abdur Rehman Makki.

Mr Tarar said US investigations into the shameful act were not acceptable to the people of Pakistan. He underlined the need for unity among the Muslims to force the secular rulers to change their policies.

The MMA leaders said the protest would continue till the US president and people apologized to the Ummah. The sacrilege of the holy book, they said, had established that Americans, and not Muslims, were terrorists. They demanded that diplomatic relations with the US should be immediately severed and Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington should be recalled.

Separately, a meeting of the ruling PML held at the Muslim League House strongly condemned the defiling of the Holy Quran. Secretary general Chaudhry Zaheeruddin presided.

Mian Munir, Mian Abdus Sattar, Pir Ibrahim Sialvi, Sohail Zia Butt, Shahana Farooqi, Farida Suleri, Amina Ulfat and Abdur Razzaq Niazi attended the meeting. Traders of Hall Road, Mall Road and adjoining areas held a demonstration in front of the Masjid-i-Shuhada and condemned the incident. They marched to Charing Cross and dispersed after returning to Regal Chowk.

In Mansoora, Begum Qazi Husain Ahmed led a protest procession of women.

The Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith demanded that US troops who had desecrated the Holy Quran should be handed over to Pakistan for necessary action.

Maulana Moinuddin Lakhvi, Syed Ziaullah Shah Bukhari, Abdul Shakoor Bhatty and others addressed the protesters. Professor Sajid Mir said in a statement that the desecration of Holy Quran was an unforgivable act.

At a protest rally in Karachi, MMA leaders Maulana Sami-ul-Haq and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed announced that the MMA would continue its protest and boycott US products until the US apologized unconditionally for the desecration of Holy Quran by its soldiers. The rally started from Shamzai Chowk and after passing through the Numaish Chowrangi and M.A. Jinnah Road turned into a public meeting.

Other speakers included Syed Munawwar Hasan, Qari Sher Afzal, Allama Hasan Turabi, Dr Mairajul Huda Siddiqui, Hafiz Taqui, Qari Muhammad Usman of the MMA and Mamnoon Hussain of PML-N.

A resolution adopted at the meeting said: “The US has committed aggression against the Muslim Ummah and shedding the blood of Muslims everywhere. With the desecration of Holy Quran it has started a crusade. We demand that as the US had taken away Mujahideen from Pakistan, it should hand over to us the soldiers responsible for the sacrilege. We totally boycott the US products.”

Maulana Sami asked people to rise against the US and its supporters.

“The US is superpower today because of sacrifices of 20,000 Muslims in Afghanistan where no one talks about even the Soviet Union and we are being branded terrorists,” he said. Hafiz Hussain Ahmad said the MMA would target the US interests everywhere until the US tendered an unconditional apology.

In Peshawar, the leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman was the main speaker at a protest rally. He rejected the US claim of probing into the desecration and vowed to continue protest against the anti-Islamic designs of the US.

“Which investigation led the US to attack Afghanistan and Iraq? The UN did not accept claims about the existence of any nuclear and biological weapons in Iraq, but the US occupied it,” he said.

Maulana Fazl said the Ummah was protesting across the globe because the US had hurt the feelings of the Muslims.

“But the US is not bothered by these protests and would continue to hurt Muslims’ sentiments. It is high time for the Muslims to wake up and defend their religion,” he said.

The United States, he said, had launched a crusade against the Ummah and urged the Muslims to forge unity in their ranks to foil the evil designs of infidel forces.

Islam, he said, respected all religions and sects and preached peace, love and brotherhood.

Maulana Fazl alleged that President Musharraf was taking every step, such as killing the innocent people in tribal areas and handing over people to the US, to prolong his rule.

“Marathon races cannot be allowed in a Muslim country. It is not moderate enlightenment, but ignorance. We curse this enlightenment,” he said.

Thousands of MMA workers took out processions from different parts of Quetta.

The processions converged at the Meezan Chowk. The participants raised slogans against President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Later, they burned effigies of these leaders.

MMA leaders Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Maulana Noor Mohammad, MNA, Allama Mehdi Najafi, Maulana Abdul Wahid and PML-N leader Khuda-i-Noor addressed the rally.

They criticized the policies of the Pakistan government and other Muslim countries and said that such incidents took place due to the pro-US policies of these countries.

In Hyderabad, an “Azmat-i-Quran” rally was held at Hyder Chowk which was addressed by Dr Sahibzada Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair, Dr Mumtaz Memon, Abdul Waheed Qureshi, Abdul Rehman Rajput MPA, Shaikh Shoukat Ali, Moulana Taj Muhammad Nahiyoon and Nizamul Hyderi.

They severely criticized the US and Israel and ‘insensitive’ Muslim rulers, who were maintaining discreet silence over the desecration of Holy Quran.

Big rallies and protest meetings were also held in Sukkur, Dadu, Jacobabad, Naushahro Feroze, Nawabshah, Khairpur, Badin, Thatta, Shikarpur, Mirpurkhas and other towns of interior Sindh.