By IANS
Islamabad/Karachi : Different constituents of Pakistan's principal rightwing opposition, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) have reacted differently to the Lal Masjid stand-off.
MMA cadres staged protest demonstrations across the country, condemning the government's action and shouting slogans against President Pervez Musharraf in response to a call given by its chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed, who heads the Jamaat-e-Islami.
The protests took place even as MMA's secretary general, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who heads Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), was trying to broker a deal between the government and the mosque's clergy.
Rahman is leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. He has been adopting a line considered moderate for a person who set up hundreds of seminaries where Taliban were trained.
The MMA leaders and cadres protesting in Islamabad demanded an inquiry into the stand-off, but made it clear that they did not agree with Lal Masjid clergy's campaign against social vices.
MMA's deputy secretary general Liaqat Baloch told media that the Lal Masjid issue could be resolved through dialogue, "but whenever the dialogue was started some unknown forces sabotaged it", according to the Daily Times.
Leading MMA's protest in Karachi, its Sindh chief Asadullah Bhutto termed the stand-off at Lal Masjid as "the battle of Islam and Kufr.
"The people of Pakistan will soon march towards Islamabad to fight this battle."
Bhutto condemned President Pervez Musharraf in strong terms, saying: "General Musharraf is an enemy of those who worked for the Deen (Islamic piety)".
At this point participants at the Karachi demonstration started to shout slogans such as "Enemy of the Deen, Friend of America, Musharraf Traitor", Daily Times reported.