Protesters were wearing headbands reading "NO TO WAR"

By MH Lakdawala

MUMBAI, March 8 (IslamOnline.net) - More than 20,000 people gathered at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on Friday, March 7, to denounce U.S. threats to attack Iraq.

The rally was organized by 25 Muslim organizations under the banner of Forum Against War Activists. Dalit organizations and leftist unions also participated in the rally.

Most of the participants were youth wearing a headband reading "NO TO WAR".

The atmosphere was tense, emotions palpable and anger against the United States discernible.

Truckloads of Muslims poured into Azad Maidan for hours from various parts of Mumbai to join hands.

Syedna Burhanuddin, the spiritual head of the Dawoodi Bohra community's message opposing the war, which was read at the rally, set the mood.

Most of the sections of the community including ulama, politicians, activists, professionals and others were represented in the rally.

Maharashtra chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde, who joined the rally, said the U.S. ought to learn a lesson from India which had never invaded any country.

The Friday rally was the third anti-war demonstration in a week.

On Thursday, March 6, Raza Academy staged a day-long dharna (sit-in) at the same spot.

Indian Human Shields

In a related development, more than 100 Indian Muslims pledged Thursday to head for Iraq as "human shields" in order to protect the country in case of a U.S.-led invasion.

Young boys in white robes threw stones at a pillar, which they said represented the United States, in a symbolic stoning of the "devil" ritual, which is traditionally performed during the annual Haj pilgrimage in Mecca.

"We will reach there, Baghdad or Basra, when the first attack takes place," Maulana Mohammed Rafiq, an Islamic scholar, told IslamOnline.net.

"We are not afraid of dying in Iraq. It will be for an Islamic cause. We will become immortal," he added.

The squad will be led by about a dozen Indian Islamic scholars who plan to leave next week to join other "human shields" in Iraq from Europe and the United States.

A few days back Mumbai unit of Samajwadi Party had organized a similar anti-war rally at Mastan Tank led by lawmaker Abu Asim Azmi, head of the Mumbai branch of the Samajwadi Party.