PESHAWAR, July 13: Protest rallies organised by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) were held across the NWFP on Friday to condemn the Lal Masjid operation. A small rally led by provincial ministers, parliamentarians and workers was taken out from Qasim Ali Khan Mosque in Peshawar. Protesters carrying banners and placards chanted anti-Musharraf and anti-US slogans. The speakers alleged that President Gen Pervez Musharraf had killed innocent women and children to please America.

They said that after the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa operation, the government was planning to conduct another large-scale operation against seminaries in other parts of the country. They pledged that the MMA would not allow the government to target seminaries and mosques in the name of terrorism.

Demonstrations were also held in Malakand, Hazara and other parts of the NWFP. In Mansehra, Battagram and Kohistan districts protest rallies were taken out after the Friday prayers.

The protesters demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident. Slogans were raised against the Pakistan Army, Gen Musharraf and other government officials.

The MMA also staged a protest in Mardan amid tight security. The Frontier Constabulary (FC) had been deployed in the city and checkpoints were established at Par Hoti Mardan. Rallies were also taken out in Swabi, Lower Dir, Hangu, Karak and other districts.

In Timergara, activists of Jamaat-e-Islami took out a protest rally that was addressed by Khateeb Ahyaulloom Balambat Maulana Hidayatullah, MPA Muzafar Said, Shafiullah, Rasool Khan and ex-district Nazim Ihsan-ul-Haq.

Rallies were also held in Talash, Chakdara, Munda, and Samar Bagh. Local leaders of JI and JUI addressed the rallies. Some protesters also blocked main roads.

In Upper Dir, the protesters were addressed by NWFP health minister Inayatullah Khan, Maulana Fazl Azim, Amir Jamiat Ulema Islam (F) Maulana Gul Badshah, Naib Amir JUI Maulana Samiur Rehman, Maulana Inamullah JI, GS of JI Mir Makhzanudin and others. They claimed that President Musharraf had carried out the military operation at the behest of the US. They accused Musharraf of launching operations in Waziristan, Bajaur and Islamabad to prolong his rule over the country. “It was a state-orchestrated drama designed to prolong the Musharraf rule that was standing on its last leg,” they alleged.