July 10, 2007	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 24, 1428

QUETTA, July 9: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal MNA Maulana Noor Muhammad, who has been leading processions against the Lal Masjid siege, has said that he will continue to support the mosque’s cleric and students holed up in the complex despite JUI-F’s criticism.

He was addressing protestors, who had gathered under the banner of Sada-i-Muslim, outside the press club here on Monday. Slogans in favour of Mullah Omar and Osama bin Ladin and against President Pervez Musharraf and the United States were raised by the protesters.

Maulana Noor Mohammad praised the Lal Masjid militants for “resisting security forces for seven days” and said that the government could not defeat the “forces demanding enforcement of Sharia”. He said that the government was carrying out the agenda of the United States to defame seminaries.

He said that the Lal Masjid clerics had “not committed any crime” and the government propaganda would fail to create doubts in people’s minds “about the Lal Masjid ulema”.