RAWALPINDI, May 12: Activists of the Jamaat-i-Islami took to the streets here in protest against the killing of innocent people in Karachi and criticised the Sindh government for giving a freehand to a ‘violent’ political group.

Led by MNA Hanif Abbasi, the activists gathered at the Marrir Chowk and marched to the Rawalpindi Press Club where party leaders addressed the rally.

The demonstrators were holding placards and banners and were raising slogans against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

Hanif Abbasi said brutalities happened in Karachi were planned and alleged that MQM was paving way for emergency in the country.

He said the opposition and lawyers would foil the plot by unveiling the hidden agenda of the government.

He said President Musharraf’s support for MQM indicated that he was encouraging extremists and anti-state elements in the country.

Mr Abbasi said that on the one hand there was bloodshed in Karachi and on the other hand the ruling PML was utilising state resources for holding a public gathering in Islamabad.

Meanwhile, lawyers held a protest demonstration at the Katcheri Chowk in Rawalpindi against the violence and highhandedness perpetrated by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in Karachi.

They criticised the Sindh government for not allowing the CJP to proceed to the Karachi High Court Bar to address the lawyers. They raised slogans against the government and the MQM.

The Murree Bar Association condemned the killing of innocent people in Karachi. MBA President Nazir Abbasi, Sardar Masood Abbasi and PML-N Murree chapter chief Daftar Abbasi and others said the chief justice’s address to the Karachi bar had been planned about a month ago and to give the MQM permission to hold a rally on the same day showed that the government wanted to spread terror in the city.

They alleged that the government had deliberately warned the CJP and his council to refrain from continuing their movement for the supremacy of the judiciary. They said the government had given a freehand to the MQM to kill innocent people and attack media offices.