HYDERABAD (India), Feb 24: Several Muslim religious organisations on Friday launched a signature campaign at nearly 100 mosques, opposing US President George Bush’s scheduled visit to this southern Indian city early next month.

Sermons by imams at Friday prayers condemned the United States and President Bush for the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq and a humiliating treatment of Muslim prisoners at the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.

“We the people of India do not welcome the visit of US President George Bush,” read the banners at the mosques in Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh state.

On March 3, President Bush is scheduled to visit an agriculture university and a business management school in Hyderabad, Muslims comprise 40 per cent of Hyderabad’s seven million people.

A joint statement by Muslim leaders said the visit by an ‘enemy of the people and a person at war with Muslims and Islam’ is a cause of hatred and mental agony for all.

They also plan to hold a major rally during Mr Bush’s visit.

The leaders represented nearly a dozen Muslim organisations, including the Jamaat-i-Islami, Tameer-i-Millat and Jamiat-i-Ahle Hadith.—AP