July 12, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 26, 1428

ISLAMABAD, July 11: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) on Wednesday held protest demonstrations throughout the country to condemn what it termed the killing of scores of innocent people in Lal Masjid-Jamia Hafsa operation.

An emergency meeting of parliamentarians belonging to the religious alliance had announced on Tuesday a three-day mourning and a two-day (July 11-13) countrywide protest against the operation.

Protest rallies were held on Wednesday in Islamabad, Peshawar, Lahore, Quetta and Karachi, MMA sources told Dawn.

In Islamabad, parliamentarians marched from the parliament lodges to the Supreme Court building.Speaking on the occasion, MMA leader Liaquat Baloch said the so-called `Operation Silence’ was in fact `Operation Bloody’ and the government, by targeting Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, had set the worst example of “state terrorism.”

He held the government responsible for the bloodshed and said the nation would hold it accountable.

Appreciating the role played by media in providing timely information to the people about the operation, he condemned the government for keeping the media away from the operation site and hospitals.

“The objective of keeping the media away was to hide the exact number of casualties,” he said.

The MMA leader said that the timing of the operation clearly indicated that the government’s intention was to undermine the importance of opposition’s Multi-Party Conference in London.

He criticised PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s support for the operation, claiming that anyone supporting the military government at this point, was in fact harming the country.

The MMA parliamentarians included Dr Farid Ahmed Piracha, Maulana Shujaul Mulk, Dr Attaur Rahman, Maulana Ataur Rahman, Sayed Bakhtiar Maani, Mohammad Usman, Rehmatullah Khalil, Samia Raheel Qazi, Aisha Munawar, and Jamila Ahmed MNAs, Senator Abdur Rashid and wife of MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed.

Dr Farid Piracha said that the mourning programme included offering of Ghaibana funeral prayers and Qurani Khwani which would be held after the burial of bodies of those killed in the operation.

The demonstrators demanded resignation of President Gen Musharraf and said the continuation of his rule would endanger the national unity and security.

They demanded that bodies of the students killed in the operation be handed over to relatives.

They also demanded that media should be allowed access to the two buildings so that the people could get to know what had actually happened in the two buildings and its premises.

They also demanded a judicial inquiry to into the matter.

They also called for an emergency session of the National Assembly to discuss the matter.