Pakistanis Rally Against Mosque

Thousands of supporters of a government allied party Mutahida Qami Movement or United National Moment take part a rally in Karachi, Pakistan on Sunday, April 15, 2007. About 100,000 people rallied in Pakistan's largest city Sunday against a radical Islamic mosque and seminary that launched a Taliban-style anti-vice campaign in the country's capital last week. The mass protest in Karachi was organized by the Mutahida Qami Movement, or MQM, a party based in the southern port city that strongly supports President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who has promoted moderate Islam. (AP Photo/Shakil Adil) (Shakil Adil - AP)

KARACHI, Pakistan -- About 100,000 people rallied in Pakistan's largest city Sunday against a radical Islamic mosque and seminary that launched a Taliban-style anti-vice campaign in the country's capital last week.

The mass protest in Karachi was organized by the Mutahida Qami Movement, or MQM, a party based in the southern port city that strongly supports President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who has promoted moderate Islam.

"Islam is a religion of peace and there is no place in it for using force or terrorism," said MQM leader Altaf Hussain, who addressed the rally on loudspeakers by telephone from London.

The Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in the capital Islamabad announced last week the setting up of a court to deliver justice based on Sharia, or Islamic law. Students from an Islamic school attached to the mosque have started an anti-vice campaign in Islamabad, threatening proprietors of music shops and brothels in the relatively liberal Pakistani capital.

The mosque's chief cleric, Maulana Abdul Aziz, is an outspoken critic of Pakistan's support of the U.S.-led war on terror. His thousands of male students are often at the forefront of anti-government and anti-U.S. rallies in Islamabad.

"We will strongly resist religious terrorism and religious extremism. We will resist their intentions with cooperation of the people," Hussain said.

A Karachi police official, Mazhar Hussain, said about 100,000 people attended the rally, with many protesters chanting, "No to extremism."

The Red Mosque, located in downtown Islamabad, is suspected of links in the past with militants, including the Taliban militia, which banned music, movies and nearly all forms of entertainment during its rule over neighboring Afghanistan under its strict interpretation of Islam.

A U.S.-led military campaign ousted the Taliban from power in late 2001 for harboring al-Qaida after the Sept. 11 attacks.