QUETTA, Jan 12: The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) took out a procession here on Friday in protest against the “arrest of students of religious seminaries in Quetta and Pishin in the name of action against Taliban”.

Led by MNA Maulana Noor Mohammed, members of the JUI-F marched out of the Jamia mosque after Juma prayers and assembled at the Manan chowk.

Speaking on the occasion, Maulana Mohammed said the arrests were aimed at harassing the students of religious schools in line with the agenda of the US government. He said the arrested students were neither terrorists nor extremists. Their objective was to acquire religious education, he added.

The JUI-F leader strongly criticised the US attack in Somalia in which hundreds of innocent Muslims were killed. Such violent and inhuman actions would not be able to suppress Islamic movements in any part of the world, he added.

The attack on Somalia was aimed at diverting the world attention from Iraq and Afghanistan where the US had failed to restore peace and order.

He also condemned the incidents of bomb blasts at a public meeting of Qazi Hussain Ahmed in Nowshera.