KARACHI, Aug 27: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal would stage a countrywide strike on Sept 1 to protest against the killing of veteran Balochistan politician Nawab Akbar Bugti in a military raid.

The strike was announced in a rally where speakers reiterated that the ongoing military operations in Balochistan and Waziristan were jeopardising the country’s integrity.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Sahibzada Abulkhair Zubair, Kambar Abbas Naqvi and Qari Gul Rehman, ARD’s Makhdoom Amin Faheem, Raza Rabbani, Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Sibtain Ansari and Mamnoon Hussain unanimously called for immediately halting the military operations.

The demand was formalised in the shape of one of more than 10 resolutions adopted by the well-attended Nishtar Park rally.

Political leaders criticised the government for initiating a military operation that culminated in the killing of seasoned politician Nawab Akbar Bugti.

Chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad said that the MMA’s anti-government campaign would end on Sept 6 when the masses would show their dislike for the Musharraf government by attending a public meeting in Rawalpindi.

MMA’s Secretary-General Maulana Fazlur Rahman criticised the government for following the diktats of the West, particularly the United States. He said the military operations in Balochistan and Waziristan were being carried out at the behest of the American government.

ARD’s chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim said that Pakistan’s history had repeatedly witnessed that the combined military-bureaucracy had always struck at the roots of the country.

Raza Rabbani expressed concern over the map released by an American think-tank which showed altered geographical boundaries of Balochistan and the NWFP.