LAHORE, Oct 25: Hundreds of women and their children marched from Nasser Bagh to Masjid-i-Shuhada on The Mall on Thursday to condemn attacks on Afghanistan.
Led by Jamaat-i-Islami’s women wing secretary general Aisha Munawwar and Begum Qazi Husain Ahmad, the participants carried placards and banners and raised spirited slogans against the United States and Pakistan’s government’s support to it.
A large number of policemen and policewomen in anti-riot gear accompanied the procession which culminated peacefully. The processionists marched on one side of the road without disrupting the traffic.
Addressing the rally near Masjid-i-Shuhada, JI amir Qazi Husain Ahmad condemned the US for trying to destroy Afghanistan and the government for “supporting anti-Islam forces”.
The JI amir said the people of Pakistan who had rendered countless sacrifices and waged a jihad for the independence of Afghanistan could not accept the government decision to support a coalition against it.
He said the war imposed on Afghanistan was a clash of the Islamic and non-Islamic civilizations. A country, he said, could not become a super power by dint of its armaments alone. The US, he said, was treated as a super power in expectation of a role in dispensation of justice but had stooped to terrorism.
He said those opposed to support for the US would not create unrest in the country or clash with the police or the army. They would, however, not spare the government. “Supporting America against your brother,” he said, “is not wisdom. It is cowardice.”
He said nobody in Pakistan supported the government policy towards Afghanistan or the American raids. The president, he said, did not represent anybody and had no right to take such decisions or to amend the constitution.
The JI amir asserted that the government’s support for America had isolated the country. How could China or Iran trust it, he said, “after we allow America to invade Afghanistan.”
He condemned the US for describing jihad as terrorism. “We do not trust America,” he said, “which wants to demolish our nuclear programme and weaken our army. Those supporting it are also not our friends,” he said.
Criticizing the reported arrest of some nuclear scientists, the JI leader said the government was a security risk.
He asked the women to prepare the men in their families for a sit-in in Islamabad if the government failed to change its policy.
He also condemned the government for banning his entry in Sindh and Balochistan. He claimed that his only purpose in touring the country was to enhance its security.
He also urged the people to participate in JI’s rally in Lahore on Sunday.
A military police contingent arrived during his speech and was greeted by JI workers with hostile slogans. However, it returned without event. Later, JI leaders stopped the activists from approaching a caravan of two jeeps and several motorcyclists, saying they were merely rehearsing for the Turkish president’s visit.
Aisha Munawwar said the rally was meant to show the Afghans that the Pakistani nation was with them. The government, she said, did not have any right to support America. The support was a conspiracy to isolate Pakistan.
She said the government’s policies had harmed the country and weakened Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir. The people who had rendered sacrifices to protect Afghanistan from the former USSR had to oppose them.