- ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Thousands
of hardline Islamists threatened Americans in Pakistan and burnt effigies
of US President George W. Bush Friday in nationwide rallies against a possible
war on Iraq and perceived US aggression in its hunt for al-Qaeda militants.
-
- "If the US attacks Iraq there will be open war here,"
Maulana Samiul Haq, a leader of the newly powerful Islamic party alliance,
hollered before some 400 impassioned protestors outside Islamabad's Red
Mosque.
-
- "No American will be safe here," he warned,
as protestors yelled "Death to America" and brandished placards
inscribed with "Stop Muslim Genocide" and "We Stand By Our
Iraqi Muslims."
-
- The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Islamic bloc, which
won massive gains in October elections, led rallies in the capital, the
north-west city of Peshawar, commercial port city Karachi, southwestern
city of Quetta and the Punjabi cities of Lahore and Multan.
-
- Some 2,000 protestors marched through Lahore chanting
"war against Iraq is war against Islam."
-
- In Peshawar more than 3,000 protestors hit the streets
for rallies led by MMA chiefs Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
-
- "We are with Iraq. We will stay with Iraq,"
Ahmed said.
-
- "An attack on Iraq will be considered an attack
on Islam," declared Rehman.
-
- In Karachi, where only a few hundred protestors turned
out, MMA president Shah Ahmed Noorani warned of "war" by jihadi
(Islamic fighter) groups if the US attacks Iraq.
-
- "It is in their own interest not to attack Iraq,
otherwise it can be all-out war between the Americans and the jihadi forces,"
Noorani told AFP.
-
- Around 700 protestors took to the streets in the southwestern
city of Quetta carrying posters of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, placards
declaring "long live al-Qaeda" and shouting "long live Osama."
-
- In Multan around 200 veiled women staged anti-US protests.
-
- Anti-US feeling in the country has been fanned in recent
weeks by several FBI arrests of doctors and the US bombing of an empty
religious school on the Afghan border Sunday, sparking accusations that
Washington is treating its key war on terror ally with contempt.
-
- In the semi-autonomous border areas, heavily-armed tribal
protestors waving the flags of hardline Islamic parties torched Bush effigies
and struck the models with the butts of AK-47 rifles.
-
- "The Americans have crossed all limits in Pakistan,"
Haq declared at the Islamabad rally.
-
- "They are interfering in our affairs. They are raiding
private homes and arresting innocent Muslims, including doctors. This is
intolerable."
-
- "The Americans are bombing our areas without any
fear and shame."
-
- Pakistan's moderate government -- a key US ally in its
war on terrorism -- opposes unilateral action against Iraq, but has said
it would support any decision by the United Nations Security Council.
-
- Islamabad took up one of the Council's 10 non-permanent
seats on Wednesday but has declined to say how it would vote in a decision
on war against Iraq.
-
- Extra police and paramilitary troops were deployed around
mosques and outside foreign diplomatic missions to guard against outbreaks
of violence, but no scuffles were reported.
-
- Pakistan's government has been a pivotal supporter of
the US-led campaign to crush al-Qaeda and the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan
and the hunt for extremists in Pakistan's cities and border areas.
-
- Washington's decision last month to subject US-based
Pakistanis to extra scrutiny has fuelled public anger that Pakistan is
not being acknowledged for its efforts to help stamp out the Taliban and
al-Qaeda.
-
- __________________________________________________ Do
you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com
|