RAWALPINDI, July 15: Leaders of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) on Sunday threatened to quit the Balochistan Assembly if the government did not avoid confrontation with seminaries.

Speaking at a protest meeting held at Madressah Jamia Islamia against the Lal Masjid operation, MMA secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the government has started an armed campaign against seminaries. MMA president Qazi Hussain Ahmed and deputy secretary-general Liaquat Baloch were also present.

“We are now seriously contemplating the option of quitting the coalition in Balochistan Assembly in case the government does not stop its ongoing armed campaign against religious institutions,” Maulana Rehman said. He expressed confidence that the Multi-Party Conference held recently in London would prove to be a decisive movement against the military-led regime, adding that the days of the government were numbered.

The Maulana alleged that on one occasion, President Gen Pervez Musharraf had asked him to accept the fact that the United States was our master and we Pakistanis were the slaves. “However, I told him that we will follow the footprints of our forefathers,” he claimed.

Mr Ahmed said that despite the government’s claims, neither any rocket launcher nor any foreign terrorists were found at the Lal Masjid. He said the government had claimed killing Uzbek militants but they later turned out to be students hailing from district Attock.

He said the religious alliance had attempted to resolve the Lal Masjid issue peacefully but the government foiled these efforts and even the MMA’s women delegation was not allowed to visit the besieged mosque.

“The government is still reluctant to release the correct figures of the people martyred, detained or missing in the Lal Masjid operation. This clearly shows that the military action against the Lal Masjid was not justified,” Mr Hussain claimed.

He regretted that troops stood inside the mosque with their boots on and Friday prayers could not be offered.

“I am sure that President Musharraf had launched the operation against Lal Masjid to get commendation from the Bush administration and to please the US,” he alleged.

Mr Ahmed warned that any military action against religious seminaries in the NWFP would lead to serious repercussions and the general public might take to the streets resulting in an uncontrollable situation for the government.

Mr Baloch said the only ‘sin’ of the students killed in the Lal Masjid operation was that they had been struggling for the enforcement of Sharia in the country. “But President Musharraf perished them to pave the way for unleashing obscenity on the dictation of the US,” he said, adding “the more the government would press the clerics, the more extremism would mushroom in society”.