PESHAWAR, Jan 31: Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) on Friday held a protest rally against the possible US attack on Iraq and called upon the Ummah to unite against what they called the Jewish lobby.

“Pakistan has become a leaderless country after the forced exile of the former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif,” said Saranjam Khan, central secretary-general of the PML-N while addressing the rally in Qissakhawani Bazaar on Friday afternoon.

The PML-N protest originated from the historical Mohabat Khan mosque. They were holding banners inscribed with slogans against the US and the government.

Mr Sharif was exiled from the country as a result of an American conspiracy because he had turned down President Clinton’s request with regard to the nuke test.

Pakistan, a nuclear nation is helpless before the US, said Mr Khan, adding that the army generals were responsible for the ills of the country.

“We do not accept Gen Musharraf as president even if he puts off his military uniform. He should follow the Constitutional path to become head of the state,” Mr Khan said.

He said that the US was adamant to attack Iraq on flimsy grounds, but no action was being taken against North Korea, which has declared to have had missiles and nuclear weapons.

The former chief minister and PML provincial chief Pir Sabir Shah alleged that the US wanted to control the Iraqi resources, and that Iraq had no nuclear and biological weapons as declared by the UN weapon’s inspectors.

The US would also hit Iran and Pakistan after Iraq, if the Ummah failed to halt American aggression now, said Sabir Shah, adding that it was time that the Muslims did some soul-searching.

Provincial secretary-general, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra said that Pakistan had been acting as a frontline state in the war on terrorism, while the US continues to harass Muslims everywhere.

Pakistan, he said should behave like a tiger as it did at the time of Nawaz Sharif. He called upon the Ummah to take note of the atrocities being committed against the Muslims in Kashmir, Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq.