HYDERABAD, Oct 31: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) staged province-wide demonstrations and rallies and burnt US flags on Tuesday in protest against air strikes allegedly by US forces on a religious seminary in Damadola in Bajaur agency, killing more than 80 people.

MMA leaders criticised Gen Musharraf for his policy of appeasing the US and the West even at the cost of his own people and demanded registration of FIR against him for the mass murder during demonstrations and rallies held in Hyderabad, Sanghar, Naushahro Feroze, Nawabshah, Shikarpur, Larkana and Mirpurkhas.

Sindh Jamaat-i-Islami Amir Dr Mumtaz Memon condemned the massacre of seminary students in the bombardment allegedly by US planes and said the general had risked the security and integrity of the country.

The bombardment was not only a flagrant violation of fundamental human rights but it had once again exposed the true barbaric face of the United States and its expansionist designs, he said.

He said that the government had defamed the army by refusing to admit US involvement in the attack and asserting that Pakistan Army itself had carried out the attack. The army should not crucify itself at the altar of a few generals’ whims, he said.

Sanghar Jamaat-i-Islami Amir Haji Tufail Mohammad and the president of Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sufi Abdul Haq, said that the rulers usually liked to commit such acts whenever a dignitary from the West was on a visit of the country.

MMA leaders Hafiz Ahmed Ali Abbasi, Shamsuddain Abbasi and Ashique Dhamraho said that the government had buckled under American pressure.

MMA Mirpurkhas President Moulana Abdul Hafeez Siyal, Moulana Hafizur Rehman, Ahsan Illahi Mughal and Zafar Iqbal accused the government of mass murder and said it was a gift for Prince Charles.

They demanded that the rulers should resign over the shameful incident and alleged that the air strike was carried out by NATO forces.