The rallying cry from the fiercely anti-U.S. bloc of six religious parties, which posted stunning gains in an October election, will be an early barometer of its ability to mobilise popular support and of the level of Pakistanis' resistance to a strike on Iraq. President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in Washington's self-styled ''war on terror'' in Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan, has voiced concern over the prospect of a war with Iraq, saying it would sour relations with the Muslim world. The Supreme Council of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) met in the northwestern city of Peshawar, not far from the Afghan border. The religious right counts fiery pro-Taliban cleric Fazal-ur-Rehman among its senior leadership. ''The MMA has issued a call for a protest day on January 3 against a possible U.S. attack on Iraq,'' Rehman told reporters. ''The imams and clerics have been asked to criticise U.S. policies against Iraq and to organise protest rallies.'' The overwhelming majority of Pakistan's 140 million people opposes such an attack, but it remains to be seen whether they are prepared to take to the streets in protest. Popular protests in Pakistan against the U.S. military campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan were smaller than many people had expected. But the MMA's strong gains in the general election have raised concerns in the West that the religious right could undermine the U.S.-led hunt for Taliban and al Qaeda fugitives in areas along the Pakistan-Afghan border. (Reuters)