Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal accused the government Friday of using police and venal traders to foil their strike here in the city.
| Damn those venal traders! Tryin' to make a living when there's important stuff going on! |
Addressing demonstrators, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, acting chief of the alliance, called the general response âvery encouragingâ.
| "I mean, it was very encouraging for a flop..." |
âPakistan is passing through its darkest phase and the government has put the countryâs future at stake just to please America,â he said.
| Not doing a very good job of it at the moment, though... |
The MMA had announced 40 protest rallies in Lahore, but only two were reportedly held: one on The Mall and the other outside the Jamaat-e-Islami headquarters on Multan Road.
| Two out of forty? That's encouraging? Maybe it was the burning rickshaws... |
MMAâs Punjab president Hafiz Adrees said the nation would not accept Dr Abdul Qadeer Khanâs confessional statement because he gave this statement under âgovernment pressureâ. He accused Gen Musharraf of plundering the nationâs wealth and violating the Constitution. Jamaat-e-Islamiâs chief of foreign affairs Abdul Aziz Ghaffar said Muslims were glad when Pakistan detonated nuclear devices but now were disappointed.
"Mahmoud! Pakland just detonated a nuke!"
"Oh, Ahmed! I'm so glad!" |
The MMA had claimed the Friday protests would be the biggest in its history. The alliance of religious parties was unable to bring out more than a few hundred people out on the streets. And traders refused to shutter businesses even when confronted by the Ababeel Squad. âThis is not a good sign,â said one political observer. âIf I were Qazi Hussain Ahmed, I would be very worried.â
| What's a would-be caliph to do when the brownshirts don't work? |
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