Staff Reporter
Karachi/Islamabad
Several religious political parties and groups held a protest rallies on Sunday in many cities against the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in a US airstrike in Baghdad on Friday.
Stringent security measures were taken due to the protest rally. The roads leading to the US Consulate, including Moulvi Tameezuddin Khan Road, Mai Kolachi Bypass, Aiwan-e-Saddar road and Ziauddin Road in the red zone were closed by the city’s traffic police.
The traffic police advised the commuters, from Tower to Boat Basin and PIDC to Tower, to use the I.I. Chundrigar Road for their travel.
In Karachi, the rally began at about 3pm at the Fawwara Chowk and reached the Native Jetty Bridge where it concluded peacefully late evening. The protesters carried portraits of Soleimani along with posters inscribed with “Down With USA!”
Among the groups that protested were Imamia Students Organisation, Jaafria Alliance, Majlisi-Wahdatul Muslimeen, Tanzeem Azadari, and Shia Ulema Council.
The protesters had aimed to march to the US consulate. Police sources had said they may protest at Tower but they won’t be allowed to move toward US consulate on Mai Kolachi Road. Addressing the protesters, Allama Shahenshah Hussain of the Shia Ulema Council, said that a small group would go forward to the consulate premises and present a memorandum. Hussain appreciated the statement by Maj-Gen Asif Ghafoor who had assured the nation that Pakistan’s land will not be used for action against any neighbouring country.
MWM chief Allama Hasan Zafar Naqvi also addressed the rally. “Every Pakistani, down to the last child, is Qasem Soleimani,” he declared. “We will not allow the US to succeed in perpetrating their crimes on Pakistani soil,” he said.
Paying homage to Soleimani, he said that the slain general had united Iraq’s Shia and Sunni populations against the US. He said the existence of America and Israel pose a danger to humanity. “Soleimani was the commander of the army of Islam.” He also paid tribute to the Pakistan media for highlighting Soleimani’s role.
A significant rally was also organised in Islamabad by the MWM and ISO to protest the US strike in Baghdad killing a number of Irani and Iraqi defence officials. It began at the Islamabad Press Club and culminated at the D-Chowk.
Women and children also took part in big numbers in the rally which was led by Allama Syed Ali Rizvi. Among promiment figures participating was the Deputy Mayor of the city, Zeeshan Naqvi. Protesters chanted “Death to America” and “America is a terrorist”.
Some equated the move to “international terrorism”. They said that America “wishes to divide the Muslim Ummah and enslave the whole world”. The protesters called for unity among all Muslims as they marched.
Addressing the rally, Rizvi said that Soleimani had been “martyred by those who profit from Daesh and Al-Qaeda”. He said the US was a “cheating and untrustworthy” country. “The Islamic world’s security and dignity is in keeping its distance from them.”
