KARACHI, 29 August — The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a conglomerate of religious parties, yesterday launched its train trip from Rawalpindi, defying the government’s ban on political activities.
The MMA leaders launched the tightly controlled trip across Pakistan to kick start their campaign for Oct. 10 parliamentary elections.
They managed to board the train from Rawalpindi station despite huge deployment of police outside the railway station to block their trip.
The MMA leaders criticized President Pervez Musharraf for his support for the US-led war on terror and for constitutional changes that vastly increased his power.
They then boarded the train, bound for the eastern city of Lahore.
Police in riot gear blocked roads leading to the railway station and witnesses said only a small number of MMA activists managed to make it to the venue for the rally.
“We don’t accept your constitution. We don’t accept your regulations,” the MMA supporters shouted as their leaders accused Musharraf of imposing “military culture” in the country.
The MMA group was led by its chief Shah Ahmed Noorani and included Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) Fazal-ur Rehman, leader of the another faction of the JUI, Samil-ul Haq and Sajid Ali Naqvi of Tehreek-e-Jafria.
Pakistan’s religious groups have often allied themselves to military rulers, but fell out with Musharraf when he abandoned the Taleban rulers in neighboring Afghanistan and threw his weight behind US action there in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
“Today our airports, sea ports and land have been handed over to the American forces. How can we say we are an independent nation?” Fazal-ur Rehman said.
Pakistan’s military government said on Tuesday it would lift a ban on public political meetings in the run-up to October polls but would not allow rallies on roads and railway stations.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed said the government had relaxed its restrictions yesterday and “allowed us to go ahead with our program in a peaceful manner”.
An election official said yesterday political rallies and processions ahead of polls will still require government permission, even after the government announced a relaxation of a 34-month ban on political activities.
