MANSEHRA/ABBOTABAD, July 3: Angry protests were reported from different parts of the country in the aftermath of a clash between security forces and students of Lal Masjid seminaries in Islamabad on Tuesday.
Protesters blocked one highway, ransacked banks, damaged vehicles, burnt tyres and effigies on streets, forced traders to shut down shops and took out processions.
Police baton-charged and fired tear-gas shells at demonstrators at some places and several people were reportedly injured.
Clerics, madressah students and activists of political parties blocked the Karakoram Highway on Tuesday night at different places in Mansehra and Abbotabad districts.
Police used batons and fired tear-gas shells to disperse the protesters in Abbotabad after they had ransacked main branches of four banks.
Seven protesters suffered injuries and were taken to a local hospital. Protesters also smashed billboards and wind-screens of several vehicles and set on fire effigies of President Gen Pervez Musharraf.
They were later addressed by Maulana Rafique-ur-Rehman Qamer, Maulana Waqarul Haq Usman, Maulana Faizul Bari and others.
Our Quetta Correspondent adds: Dozens of activists of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) took out a procession here on Tuesday against the attack on Lal Masjid.
The party announced that it would continue to organise protests till the government ended its siege of the madressah.
The protesters, led by MNA Maulana Noor Mohammad, chanted anti-Musharraf and anti-Bush slogans and burnt tyres on roads.
The rally passed through Shara-i-Iqbal, Manan Chowk and later assembled at Meezan chowk.
Maulana Noor accused the government of killing madressah students and alleged that President Musharraf had instigated the attack at the behest of the US to appease President Bush.
He claimed that Pakistan had been formed in the name of Islam to enforce Sharia and said that Lal Masjid and its madressah were only trying to achieve that goal.
He said that use of force would not undermine the struggle of the religious parties to enforce Islamic injunctions in the country.
Maulana Noor said jihad was the only way to enforce Sharia and foil the designs of the US.
He assured Lal Masjid that the religious parties would fully support them in their ‘jihad against the Musharraf-led government’ and said that with the backing of people, the ulema would defeat the ‘anti-Islamic’ forces.
Hafiz Fazal Mohammad,
Maulana Abdul Qadir Luni and others also spoke on the occasion.
In Khairpur, baton-wielding Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam activists forced traders and shopkeepers to close shops. Main bazaars, including the Panj Gulla chowk, Civic Centre chowk, Maal Road, Shahi Bazaar and other markets were closed.
In Lahore, students and teachers of the Jamia Asharfia held a demonstration on the main Ferozpur Road in solidarity with the Lal Masjid brigade.
In Okara, students of Jamia Masjid asked shopkeepers in various markets to pull down shutters but most of the traders ignored them.
Meanwhile, security around major seminaries, particularly those belonging to the Deobandi school of thought, had been increased.
