SANGHAR, July 13: A large number of lawyers offered ghaibana namaz-i-janaza in the premises of district and sessions’ court building for the martyrs of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa on Friday.

Sanghar District Bar Association (DBA) President Anwar Mehmood Nizamani said in his address to the gathering that hundreds of women, children and students were brutally killed during the operation. Americans had always asked the dictator president to do more and he had done it, he remarked.

Mr Nizamani claimed that an unspecified number of the copies of the holy Quran were burnt or destroyed in the operation. The government used excessive force for a task which the SHO of Aabpara police station could have easily accomplished, he said.

He demanded an impartial inquiry by the Supreme Court to ascertain the exact figure of causalities. The incident would prove disastrous for the country, he said.

He said that the military rulers did not lift the curfew even after the fighting ended on Wednesday following the death of Abdul Rasheed Ghazi because they were trying to conceal facts about the operation by keeping media and local people away from the mosque and madrassah.

Members of the federation of trade and commerce and a large number of members of general public also attended the prayers.