LAHORE, Feb 27: A Shan-i-Mustafa rally was held outside Mansoora on Monday by a large number of women and children. The venue of the rally, scheduled to be held from Nasser Bagh to the Punjab Assembly, was shifted to Mansoora for the reasons not disclosed to the media.

A large contingent of police was still surrounding the Jamaat-i-Islami headquarters but they did not try to stop the rally which, led by MNA Samia Raheel Qazi, appeared on Multan Road from the Mansoora Hospital gate and marched up to the other (main) gate of the locality.

The protesters presented copies of the Holy Quran to police officers as a goodwill gesture.

By the end of the rally, some leaders and workers of the PML-N women wing also joined in. They included Punjab general secretary Zakia Shahnawaz, MPA Abida Javed, Shahzadi Kabeer and wives of MNAs Pervaiz Malik, Saad Rafiq and Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.

Speaking to the protesters from inside Mansoora, where he was under house arrest since Sunday evening, Qazi Husain Ahmad said women had always played a prominent role in the Islamic history and they should continue this tradition by contributing in the present movement and taking it to its logical conclusion of enforcing Islamic system.

He urged the women to make their homes models of Islamic culture to combat the onslaught of Western and Hindu civilisations.