CHARSADDA, Jan 6: Speakers at a protest rally here on Sunday asked President General Pervez Musharraf to hand over powers to a broad-based government and defend the frontiers of the country.

The rally, organised by Jamaat-i-Islami, was addressed, among others, by Mohammad Riaz, Amir Jamaat-i-Islami Charsadda, Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq, Amir Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Mohmand Agency, Pir Masud, Maulana Abdul Mastan and Maulana Salahuddin.

The speakers criticized the extension in the period of house arrest of Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Qazi Hussain Ahmad.

They alleged that the government had no independent foreign and internal policies and was only acting on the dictates of the United States to disown and abandon the Jihadi organizations.

Criticizing the arrest and subsequent extradition of Taliban leaders to America for interrogation, the leaders said that hundreds of criminals wanted by the law enforcement agencies in Pakistan were residing in the US, but the American government did not deport a single criminal to Pakistan.

They said that the arrest and deportation of Taliban ambassador Mullah Abdus Salam Zaeef to America was against all diplomatic norms as he discharged his official duties and was not involved in terrorist activities. They blasted the government for extending friendship to the Indian government during the Saarc summit.