ATTOCK, July 13: The lawyers staged a protest demonstration against the Lal Masjid operation here on Friday. Protest rally was taken out from the District Bar Association (DBA), led by its president Rana Afsar Ali Khan, which turned into a public gathering at the Fawarah chowk.

Among the participants were a large number of religious activists and people from other walks of life. They carried banners and placards inscribed with anti-government slogans.

Speaking on the occasion, the lawyers criticised the commando operation and said that it was an effort to appease the United States. They alleged that negotiation between the clerics and the ulema was sabotaged, and the army was ordered to storm the mosque and seminary as the part of an alleged conspiracy.

“No doubt,” they said, “the procedure adopted by the Ghazi brothers to enforce sharia was wrong but their demands were genuine and according to the constitution of the country.”—Correspondent