ISLAMABAD, Sept 1: Pakistani religious organizations vehemently condemned Islamabad’s first high-level diplomatic contact with Israel on Thursday and said they would launch nationwide protests.

The alliance of six Islamic parties, the MMA, said protests would be held throughout the country after Friday prayers to express anger at the government’s “anti-Islamic move”.

“We strongly condemn the meeting and we have called for a day of protest throughout the country on Friday to register our anger and protest against this move,” the alliance’s spokesman Shahid Shamsi told AFP.

He said protest rallies would be held outside mosques and public opinion would be mobilized against any rapprochement with the Jewish state.

MMA president Qazi Hussain Ahmed termed the meeting “against Pakistan’s national interest” and the country’s decades-long policy.

He said the meeting was against a vital policy that Pakistan had been pursuing from the very beginning.

He also criticized a planned address of President Musharraf at a conference of the influential American Jewish Congress during his forthcoming visit to New York for attending the UN General Assembly session.

Munawar Hassan, secretary general of Jamaat-i-Islami, dismissed the Israeli pullout from Gaza as a “farce” and said Pakistan’s stance of not recognising Israel must continue until there was a complete withdrawal from Palestinian lands.

“We will greet Mr Kasuri with black flags when he arrives back,” he said.

“The evacuation from Gaza is just a farce,” he added.

“It’s as good as robbers entering somebody’s house forcibly and than leaving half of it after many years.”—Agencies