ISLAMABAD, July 12: Leaders of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal on Thursday disputed the government’s claims about the number of deaths in the Lal Masjid operation, and said that more than 400 and up to 1,000 people had been killed in the mosque-madressah complex.

They, however, did not cite any credible source to corroborate their claim.

Addressing a news conference soon after their return from London, the alliance’s president Qazi Hussain Ahmed and secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rahman condemned the operation and called it ‘a shameful military adventure’ and said they would thwart conspiracies against other seminaries.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed said: “We intend to move the Supreme Court, urging it to set up a judicial inquiry commission to gather details about the sham operation.”

He claimed that troops had placed two to four bodies in each coffin without gender discrimination and buried them.

He insisted that those taking part in the attack on Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa could not be called martyrs as, according to him, they had been killed while implementing the American agenda.

Calling upon President Musharraf to step down to save the country from plunging into anarchy, he said that deliberate attempts were being made to pitch the masses against the armed forces.

He said that protest rallies and ulema conventions would be held on July 15, 16 and 19 in Islamabad, July 26 in Peshawar, July 28 in Muzaffarabad,

Aug 2 in Karachi and Aug 9 in Quetta.

Maulana Fazlur Rahman rejected the proposal to demolish Jamia Hafsa, and said: “We will protect all madressahs and will not allow Jamia Hafsa to be moved from its present location”. He urged President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to stop threatening madressahs.

Referring to the arms and ammunition displayed in the mosque-madressah complex, the Maulana said the fight could have dragged on several weeks if there really was such a large stockpile of arms and ammunition.

Urging the government to hand over bodies to their legal heirs, he said that the government had deliberately allowed the situation to deteriorate over the past six months and intelligence agencies should be held accountable for the situation.