MMA's anti-Govt Million March in Lahore Today
By Omair Rasheed - Pakistan Times Staff Correspondent

LAHORE: The MMA is to hold its Million March in Lahore on today, Wednesday in protest against the policies of government and holding of two offices by the President.

The religious alliance has already held a similar march in Karachi and plans to organise such events in Peshawar, Quetta and other cities in the coming days.

MMA’s central leadership would arrive in the city on Wednesday afternoon from Gujranwala. MMA chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Sajid Mir, Allama Sajid Naqvi, Liaqat Baloch and Hafiz Hussain Ahmad would be received at Shahdra at 12:30 [07:30 GMT].

They would lead a procession from there to Nasir Bagh.

The March

The Million March would start from Nasir Bagh and leaders of the alliance as well as other opposition parties would address the participants at Charing Cross.

The MMA’s city chapter has completed all arrangements to make the march a success.

The alliance’s component parties held meetings at their offices to finalise the arrangements. They also held public meetings in different parts of the city to raise awareness among the people.

JI leader Amirul Azim said the Lahore Million March would prove that the people did not have trust in the government and that "they hated its policies." JUP leaders Hafiz Bashir Nizami and Qari Abdur Rahman said the MMA would impose Shariah in the country.

JUI [F] also held meetings in different parts of the city and reviewed the arrangements. The party leaders said the MMA would hold a peaceful show and every move to stop the Million March would be made futile. They said the March would prove a referendum against the government.

Rally in Rawalpindi

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) on Tuesday began its million-man march in Punjab, as a rally was held in Rawalpindi, which headed for Gujranwala to join the main procession in Lahore on today, Wednesday.

MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed, secretary general and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Deputy Secretary General Liaqat Baloch and other leaders including Mian Mohammad Aslam, Hanif Abassi, Qari Gul Rehman and Maulana Abdul Malik addressed the rally on Murree Road near Liaqat Bagh.

The MMA leaders vowed to continue the million-man march till President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz were "removed from power."

“President Musharraf is following the dictates of the United States and wants to make Pakistan a secular state,” Qazi told the rally. He said the government’s policies had threatened the federation and the law and order situation had gone from bad to worse.

“The government has risked the country’s security by playing into the hands of the United States and has left Kashmiri mujahideen in the lurch,” he added.

He said the government wanted to eliminate Islamic values from society and had waged a war against religious schools. “They have removed the religion column from passports and are encouraging Hindu culture and misleading students by authorising the Aga Khan Education Board to form national curriculum,” he said.

ARD cancels Meeting

Meanwhile, Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) has cancelled today’s (March 23) public meeting scheduled to be held at Atiq Stadium due to heavy rains.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Zafar Iqbal Jhangra, Central Secretary-General of the alliance said the ARD leaders had decided to cancel the public meeting due to heavy rains.

Moreover, the rainwater had not been drained from the venue, and it was very difficult to change it in a day, he added. He said there was no other reason to cancel the meeting and new date would be announced after ARD heads meeting on March 28.

He said the public meeting would be held at all costs in near future. Responding to a query weather the cancellation was made in favour of the MMA, he said: "No, as the ARD has its own stance, and morally supports MMA struggle against dictatorship." He said the ARD leaders did not get any formal invitation from MMA to attend million-march in Lahore, but they fully supported them.

About a grand opposition alliance, he said a two-member committee, comprising Raja Zafarul Haq and Makhdoom Amin Fahim was holding talks with opposition parties. A grand opposition alliance would be announced after talks with PONM and MMA besides smaller parties, he said.

About PPPP talks with the government, he said the PPPP leadership would take the ARD into confidence about its parlays with the regime. All the ARD parties were cooperating with one another and reports about differences were baseless, he said.●