MMA holds protests against Holy Quran ‘sacrilege’

Staff Report

LAHORE: The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal observed a protest day across the country on Friday to condemn the desecration of Quran by the US army at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and the murder of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leaders in Karachi.

The MMA leaders said that the Bush administration had violated human rights and civil liberties. They condemned the lawlessness and targeted killings in Karachi and accused the Sindh Government of the killings.

In Lahore, Amirul Azim, JI Lahore general secretary, led the demonstrations. Dr Mansoor Ali, JI Iqbal Town ameer, Abdul Ghaffar Aziz, JI foreign affairs director, Anwar Gondal, Amanullah Khan, Malik Jahangir and Hafiz Akram Bari were present at the demonstrations.

Protestors raised slogans against the US and the MQM. Azim said that the MQM was creating lawlessness before the local elections as it had lost popularity after the welfare projects initiated by the city government.

Aziz, who just returned from Turkey, said that the Saadat Party in Turkey also condemned the murder of Aslam Mujahid. Gondal said that the violence in Karachi was a conspiracy to damage the popularity of the city government and to sabotage the coming elections.

Chaudhry Aslam Salimi, JI naib ameer, while delivering the Friday sermon at Mansoorah mosque said that the visit of Indian-held Kashmiri leaders without Ali Gilani was like a wedding without a groom. Salimi said that Gilani’s refusal to visit Pakistan after Islamabad’s deviation from the stand on the Kashmir dispute proved that he was a true representative of the Kashmiris. He urged the Muslims to unite under the Quran as it would strengthen their faith and strategy against the enemies.

He said that the latest lawlessness and violence was a conspiracy to divide the country and that US and Indian agents were behind the murders of the JI leaders in Karachi. He lamented that Muslims were being murdered all over the world, particularly in Palestine, Kashmir, Iraq and Afghanistan.

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