PESHAWAR, June 24: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government organized a Shariat rally in the provincial metropolis to commemorate the passage of Shariat Act in the NWFP Assembly here on Tuesday evening.

The parade, which started from the Darvesh mosque in Peshawar Saddar, was led by Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani, Senior Minister Sirajul Haq, cabinet members, parliamentarians and MMA leaders.

The participants marched on different roads and reached Qissa Khwani Bazaar, from where the marchers headed for the Jinnah Park on GT Road to say the Maghrib prayers.

They carried banners and placards, shouted slogans in favour of the Shariat Act, and demanded of the government to implement Islamic laws in letter and in spirit.

At the start of the rally, leaders of minorities, including Sikhs, Christians and Hindus, garlanded the chief minister and his cabinet members, welcoming the passage of the bill. They said that the bill guaranteed full rights to the minority communities. They also carried banners and crosses to express their happiness at the passage of the act.

Peshawar Nazim Azam Afridi and Town-I Nazim Haroon Bilour also congratulated the chief minister and the MMA government at the start of the rally on the unanimous passage of the act.

Different traders associations and Frontier Printers and Publishers Association had erected welcome arches at different points on the parade’s route.

Later, addressing the participants at Jinnah Park, Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani warned that the MMA government would not tolerate any hurdles in the implementation of Shariat in the province.