ISLAMABAD, July 10: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has declared a three-day mourning for people killed in the Lal Masjid operation and blamed President Gen Pervez Musharraf for failure of efforts to end the standoff peacefully.

Lawmakers of the alliance, who met at the parliament lodges here on Tuesday, expressed regret over “what happened as security personnel were forced to kill their own brethren, although no-one supported the hard-line clerics of Lal Masjid”.

Holding Gen Musharraf responsible for the bloodshed, the lawmakers claimed that the president had changed at the last moment a formula agreed upon by a government-sponsored ulema team and Abdul Rashid Ghazi, and then suddenly ordered the operation.

More than two dozen members of the National Assembly and Senate attended the meeting which was presided over by Farid Piracha.

The meeting announced that countrywide protests would be held from July 11 to 13 and ulema conventions would be convened across the country to discuss with religious leaders the future course of action of the alliance on the issue.

The alliance formed a committee comprising Maulana Shah Abdul Aziz, Maulana Rehmatullah Khalil, Dr Ataur Rehman and Maulana Abdul Malik to keep in touch with ulema while holding countrywide meetings against the operation.