KARACHI, Nov 17: Supporters of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal staged rallies outside various mosques after Juma prayers to condemn the passage of the Women Protection Bill in the National Assembly. The main rally was held outside Masjid Baitul Mukarram in Gulshan-i-Iqbal.

The protesters, carrying banners and placards, were raising slogans against the government and the new law.

Addressing participants of the main rally, JI Sindh chief Maulana Asadullah Bhutto said that the Constitution did not allow any law to be framed if it was repugnant to the Holy Quran and Sunnah but the Musharraf government had resorted to framing and introducing a law that was not only in conflict with the teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunnah, but was also aimed at transforming Pakistani society into a culture similar to that of US or Europe.

General Musharraf had violated the Constitution by getting the bill passed through the National Assembly and, as such, he had no right to remain in power, he added.

He deplored that like MQM, the PPP had also now started appeasing the United States by supporting the bill, thus strengthening Gen Musharraf’s rule and weakening the opposition forces.

He pointed out that the PPP had remained in power but it did not try to amend the Hudood Ordinance.

Maulana Bhutto said that the Ulema Committee formed by General Musharraf had also found the bill anti-Islamic.