HYDERABAD, July 13: Students of seminaries and activists of religious parties including Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal staged demonstrations in many parts of the province on Friday in response to a call for protest given by Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia against Lal Masjid operation.

In Hyderabad seminary students and religious scholars staged a demonstration outside the local press club after Friday prayers seeking judicial inquiry into the operation.

MMA leaders, Maulana Abdul Waheed Qureshi, Maulana Taj Mohammad Nahiyoon, Dr. Abdul Salam Qureshi and Maulana Saleh Khaliq held the government responsible for the tragedy.

They said that Ghazi Abdul Rashid had agreed to a pact after his talks with joint team of Ulema and government but the agreement’s draft was sabotaged in the presidency.

Hundreds of innocent lives could have been saved but for the president’s obstinacy, they said.

They termed the demands of Lal Masjid management as just and Islamic and expressed resolve to continue struggle for the accomplishment of goals set by Ghazi Abdul Rashid.

They demanded that the government should disclose correct number of deaths to people and opposed conversion of Jamia Hafsa into a Sunday bazaar.

Rallies were brought out in Mirpurkhas and a protest day was observed in Nawabshah by activists of MMA.

The leaders charged that the operation was conducted under the directives of USA and stressed that they would not let the government turn the country into a US colony.