Hundreds of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) activists yesterday staged a demonstration against the removal of the "religion" column from the Pakistani passport, accusing the government of attempting to turn the Islamic country into a secular state.
Oh, horrors! Oh, quick, Ethel! My pills! | The protesters marched along the capital's main roads and chanted slogans against the government and President Pervez Musharraf. Protesters also burned an effigy of Musharraf, witnesses said. Banners and placards waved by the emotional protesters read: "Go, Musharraf! Go!" and "Friends of Americans are infidels", about 5,000 followers of religious parties rallied amid Musharraf's calls for people to combat extremism and stop the misuse of mosques and madrassas. "The rulers want to turn Pakistan into a secular state," Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, a top leader of the six-party Islamic alliance told an emotionally charged rally. "But we will never allow them to do so," he promised as the crowd cheered.
The latest confrontation between Musharraf and the religious bloc erupted after the government issued new machine-readable passports in October. In line with international standards, they do not include a column specifying the holder's religion. Previously, Pakistani passports required bearers to state whether they were Muslims, Christians, Buddhists or affiliates of other religions. The change has enraged Islamists, who have vowed protests to force the government to reverse it. "The column of religion was removed to appease America," said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, head of the MMA. |