Most of the protesters in Hyderabad, 110 miles (180 kilometres) north of Karachi, were women from Sindh province's Thar desert.

Mr Bhai Chand, a Hindu community leader, said Pakistani government restrictions recently imposed on Jamaat-ud-Dawa threatened their livelihood because the charity has set up a network of water wells in the desert.

'The charity would always come to help us,' Mr Chand said. 'I do not buy it that they are terrorists when they have always been helping us even though we are not Muslims.'

The protesters carried banners reading, 'Are those who give shelter to the shelterless and those who give water to the thirsty terrorists?' and 'Do not ban our saviour!'

The government - acting after the United Nations declared the charity a terrorist group and a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is blamed for the Mumbai attacks that killed more than 160 people - has shuttered all of its offices, arrested scores of activists and put its entire leadership under house arrest.

Indian leaders have called the moves insufficient, urging Pakistan to do more to dismantle the terror network they claim is well-established here.

The charity is popular in many parts of Pakistan, especially those hit by natural disasters, including the 2005 earthquake that killed thousands of people. Pakistan says the charity's welfare work will continue under government supervision. -- AP