The crowd of 60,000 to 100,000 gathered in a central square and jammed surrounding roads in the Baluchistan provincial capital, a stronghold of fundamentalist Islamic parties bitterly opposed to the US campaign in Afghanistan and the attack on Iraq.

Protestors waved pictures of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and vowed to wage jihad or holy war to defend Iraq.

"I am ready to go to Iraq to fight against the infidels if someone would arrange for me to go there," said 21-year-old Ali Gul, who shouted "death to Bush" with others around him.

The rally was led by the country's powerful Islamic party alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). Police estimated the number of protesters at 60,000, while AFP reporters put the crowd at up to 100,000.

The MMA, which emerged a powerful bloc in October 2002 elections, rules the country's deeply religious North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and shares power in Baluchistan.

"Muslims should stop using products of US and British companies which are mostly owned by Jews," MMA chief Maulana Shah Ahmed Noornai told the gathering.

"Byuing one Coca Cola bottle means paying for one bullet that will kill your brother, so boycott their products."

Chief of the fundamentalist Jamaat-i-Islami party, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, asked the crowd whether they were ready to sacrifice their lives to defend Islam, and they responded roaring "yes, yes".

He said the people of Pakistan would defend their motherland against any aggression because this would be "supreme jihad."

MMA has been at the forefront of massive anti-war rallies that have been held daily in Pakistan since the war started. An MMA rally last week in Peshawar, the NWFP capital, attracted more than 250,000 people.

"Bush is the biggest Satan who is killing and trying to subjugate Muslims around the world," said 40-year-old Maulvi Fazal at the Quetta rally.

"I have come here to express my hatred against the invaders."

Dad Mohammad, a 30-year-old student at an Islamic seminary, said jihad had become an obligation for every Muslim.

"If my party organises to send me to Iraq, I will go but at the moment I think there are enough Iraqis to fight the invaders," he said.

Pakistan, a key US ally in the 18-month old war on terrorism, has said it "deplored" the US-led attacks on Iraq.

A United Nations Security Council member, it avoided stating publicly how it would vote on any resolution authorising war, but always opposed military action without UN approval.

SPACE.WIRE