Thousands of members of political and religious parties have begun a march toward Pakistan's capital in a massive convoy of vehicles to protest against the government's decision to allow the US and other NATO countries to resume shipping troop supplies to Afghanistan.

The "long march", which started in the eastern city of Lahore, was organized by the Defense of Pakistan Council, a group of more than 40 political and religious parties who have been the most vocal opponents of the supply line.

Pakistan closed the route in November in retaliation for US airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops.

Following months of negotiations, Islamabad finally agreed to reopen the route last week after Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, apologized for the deaths.

Clinton met with Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar for the first time since the apology on Sunday on the sidelines of an Afghan aid conference in Tokyo and expressed hope that resolution of the supply line conflict would lead to better relations between the troubled allies.

One of the reasons Pakistan waited so long to resolve the conflict is that the government was worried about a domestic backlash in a country where anti-US sentiment is rampant despite billions of dollars in US aid over the past decade.

The US drone campaign in northwest Pakistan, which has killed thousands of people since 2004, many of them civilians, remains a huge source of anger.

'Hatred for America'

The protest started on Sunday in the center of Lahore, where several thousand people assembled with scores of buses, cars and motorbikes.

They linked up with thousands more supporters waiting on the city's edge and drove toward Islamabad.

The convoy included about 200 vehicles carrying about 8,000 people when it left Lahore, said police official Babar Bakht.

After completing the 300km journey to Islamabad, the marchers plan to hold a protest in front of the parliament building Monday.

"By coming out on the streets, the Pakistani nation has shown its hatred for America," one council leader, Maulana Samiul Haq, said in a speech on the outskirts of Lahore.

Supporters showered Haq with rose petals as he rode through Lahore in the back of a truck with other council leaders, including: Hafiz Saeed, founder of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba group; Hamid Gul, a retired Pakistani intelligence chief; and Syed Munawar Hasan, leader of Pakistan's most powerful religious party, Jamaat-e-Islami.

Many demonstrators rode on the tops of buses, waving party flags and shouting slogans against the US and NATO.
"One solution for America, jihad, jihad!" they shouted.

PHOTO CAPTION

Supporters of the Defense of Pakistan Council hold their party flags as they take part in a protest rally against the reopening of Nato supply lines in Lahore July 8, 2012.

Al-Jazeera