Religious parties held rallies across the country against US "anti-Muslim policies" to mark third anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks on Saturday as security forces went on high alert. But witnesses reported low turnout at rallies in major urban centres across the country amid a heavy police presence.
Addressing a gathering of several hundred people in the capital Islamabad, a top leader of the powerful Islamic Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal alliance (MMA) accused US President George W. Bush of waging war against Muslims.
"The 9/11 incident was an act of terrorism but President Bush has turned his campaign against terrorism to a war against humanity and the Muslim Ummah (nation)," MMA secretary general Maulana Fazlur Rehman told the emotional crowd, that chanted "down with Bush, down with Musharraf".
Rehman, who is parliamentary opposition leader, also lashed out at President Pervez Musharraf over a military offensive in the north-west tribal region bordering Afghanistan to flush out al-Qaeda-linked foreign militants.
"The US policy has made its citizens insecure throughout the world. Musharraf is also pursuing wrong policies in Pakistan and creating insecurity for his countrymen."
The crowd burned an effigy of Bush and displayed a coffin symbolising death to the US leader.
The MMA, which rules North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and shares power in the south-west border region of Balochistan, also held rallies in the southern port of Karachi, eastern city of Lahore and the north-western provincial capital Peshawar.
Separately two tribal MPs challenged government claims that airstrikes on a suspected terrorist training camp in South Waziristan tribal region on Thursday killed 50 militants, mostly Chechen and Uzbeks.
"They were all innocent tribesmen and they had nothing to do with terrorism," Maulana Mirajuddin told reporters at the Islamabad Press Club.
He challenged the government to allow journalists, independent observers and parliamentarians to visit the area to find out the facts.
Mirajuddin and fellow MP Maulana Abdul Malik described the military operation as "a declaration of war against the tribe."
The September 11 anniversary prompted a high security alert throughout Pakistan with thousands of paramilitaries and police out on the streets to prevent any trouble and guard against feared terror attacks on key sites.
"The security apparatus is in a state of high alert around the country. There is no specific threat, but the measures are part of a general precaution around 9/11," Brigadier Javed Cheema, head of the National Crisis Management Cell, told AFP.
"Extra force has been deployed around foreign missions as well as sensitive installations."
Around 15,000 paramilitaries and police took up positions in restive Karachi in what officials described as part of preventive security arrangements on the anniversary of the terror attacks.
The seat of thousands of religious schools, Karachi has been a hotbed of Islamic extremism and has witnessed a number of deadly attacks on mosques and Western targets which have left dozens of people dead this year.
Pakistan, a key US ally in the war on terror, has suffered a series of terrorist attacks as it waged a tough campaign to root out al-Qaeda militants and religious extremists.
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