Hundreds of protestors belonging to different religious parties on Friday staged rallies against the US military operation in Abbottabad and termed the unilateral action a clear violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. Religious parties including the two banned groups, Jamat-ud-Dawa and Sapa Sahaba Pakistan, took out a rally from Numaish Chowrangi to Tibet Centre, which was attended by a large number of people.
The rally was named as 'Difa-e-Harmain and Pakistan'. Activists from other religious groups including Tehreek-e-Hurmata Rasool (PBUH), Tahafuz-e-Khatam-e-Nabuvat also attend the rally in large numbers. The protestors holding banners and portraits of Osama bin Laden were chanting slogans against the US and Israel. They vowed to defend Pakistan and South Arabia from any external and internal aggressions.
A brief disruption was caused to the rally, when some unknown persons from another rally started aerial firing. However, organisers of the rally restored the rally to normalcy. A large number of police personnel were present to prevent any untoward incident. After the firing incident, more security personnel along with ambulances rushed to the spot. However, no killings or injuries were reported in the incident.
Mufti Usmani (JUI-F), Professor Mehmood-ul-Hassan (THR), Engineer Naveed Qamar (JuD), Mufti Yousuf Kusuri (JAH), Orangzaib Farooqi (SSP) and others addressed the large gathering. Speakers vowed that they would not tolerate any conspiracies against the governments of Saudi Arabia and would leave no stone unturned to protect the holy cities from any aggressions. The speakers strongly condemned the US covert military operation in Abbottabad.
They blamed the US and the Western countries for the continued conspiracies against the Arab world and Pakistan. The Muslim governments should be aware of the US and its western allies' conspiracies, they warned, saying that they were their enemies and not friends of Muslims.
They also paid homage to the slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden saying that "the ideology of bin Laden will continue to spread despite his martyrdom." They warned the western world that the followers of bin Laden would continue his mission despite the global military pressures. Later in the evening, Jamat-e-Islami also staged a protest a demonstration at Empress Market Saddar to condemn the US unlawful action in Abbottabad.