Eyewitness
By Haroon Rashid BBC reporter in Peshawar

Thousands of angry Pakistanis gathered to vent their anger at the US in Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier Province.

We are with Iraq. We will stay with Iraq Qazi Hussain Ahmed MMA leader

MMA alliance leaders have declared that any attack on Iraq would be considered an attack against Islam and Muslims.

Carrying placards and banners, protesters shouted "down with America" and "death to America".

An effigy of US President George Bush was burnt at the rally, as were American flags.

Demonstrators held banners in support of Iraq, describing Iraqis as their brothers.

Pictures of Osama Bin Laden, the world's most wanted man, were also much in evidence.

Muslim unity

Peshawar is the heartland of support for the six-party religious alliance which called the protests.

Protesters shouted anti-America slogans

The MMA alliance is in power in NWFP and one other of Pakistan's four provinces after stunning electoral gains in October.

Heavy contingents of police were deployed for the rally at Peshawar's main Khyber Bazar.

Traffic remained blocked for hours causing tremendous inconvenience to daily commuters.

But people said they did not mind being inconvenienced for a "bigger cause".

"We can put up with this discomfort but America's anti-Islam pursuit in the region cannot be tolerated, nor ignored," they said.

Some of the most senior leaders addressed the gathering from a huge dais specially erected for Friday's rally.

The crowd listened with rapt attention.

We can put up with this discomfort but America's anti-Islam pursuit in the region cannot be tolerated Peshawar residents

"We will side with our Muslim brothers if attacked," the leaders told the rally.

One MMA leader, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, said the alliance was against providing the Americans with military bases, as the Pakistan Government has done.

He also criticised the FBI who have been helping round up alleged terror suspects in Pakistan.

"After Iraq there will be Iran, and after Iran then Pakistan and afterwards Saudi Arabia. There is a need for all Muslim countries to join hands and forge unity," he told the crowd.

Campaign

Another senior MMA leader, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, is considered close to Afghanistan's former Taleban rulers.

He told those present that the FBI would not be allowed to conduct searches and raids in North-West Frontier Province.

He said the presence of Americans in Pakistan was a violation of the country's sovereignty.

Similar protest rallies were also held elsewhere in the province, including the semi-autonomous tribal areas, where American agencies believe al-Qaeda and Taleban remnants are hiding.

There were no reports of violence from anywhere in the province.

Though the leaders spoke of a concerted anti-American campaign, no plan for further rallies was announced.