Muttahida Quami Movement organised the rally on Sunday in which a large number of college students, apart from lawyers and working women, participated. Shagufta Abbasi, a Commerce student from Nazimabad, said that she decided to attend the rally with her friends to show that they were peace loving people.

Farrukh Raza, a lawyer, was quoted as saying by Daily Times, "we are protesting the Sharia (law) of the mullahs and the Sharia court announced by the Jamia Hafsa (Madrassa) and Lal Masjid mullahs, because the federal Sharia court, as per the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan, is already working in the country.

"It is the duty of the federal government's Sharia court to implement Sharia law. We are living in an Islamic country and there is a law, which is according to Islam and the Sunnah," he said, adding that there was no need to spread Islam using "batons and Kalashnikovs."

Also, he was confident that the government would take note of the huge turnout at the rally and take action against the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa people. The rally was organised after Jamia Hafsa principal and cleric of Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Aziz, demanded enforcement of Sharia law in the country, sparking fears of a "Talibanisation" of society in which orthodox and ultra conservative elements would rule.

A day earlier, the largest madrassa board in the country condemned the methods of violence used by the Jamia Hafsa students. According to High Court lawyer Saifullah, who also took part IN the rally, some advocates have already filed a constitutional petition against the clerics' "illegal, un-Islamic, and unconstitutional" demands.

"Those mullahs are the proponents of 'Talibanisation' and they want to impose Talibanisation here in the country as they are working on the Taliban's agenda," he said.

"The people have a constitutional right to go about their business. The way mullahs destroyed people's CDs and other appliances was totally illegal." Fareeda Baloch, a provincial assembly member, said, "These people want to spread Talibanisation by pushing us back to the Stone Age, but we will continue our protest and fight with our pens and minds."

Protester Kaneez Fatima pointed out that for her attending the rally was important as she had to register her voice against any kind of oppressive rules for women.

"A majority of the women who are widows and don't have any sons are compelled to work, and if they can't come out of their homes to work, their children would die," she said, adding that she did not have a husband, which is why she had to work in a garment factory. "I don't have any other means of earning if restrictions are imposed." Widows, she pointed out, are given one-fourth of their husband's pension.