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| The Alliance |
| Thousands protest in Pakistan |
| 2001-09-21 |
Shouting "God is Great", setting fire to shops and stoning cars, thousands of protesters across Pakistan raged at their president's decision to stand with the United States in the hunt for Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden. "Stop aggression against Afghanistan", "We will fight until the destruction of the USA", shouted a crowd of 5,000 in the heart of Peshawar, capital of the North West Frontier Province that borders Afghanistan. Protests in Peshawar, home to at least two million Afghan refugees, were noisy and demonstrators burnt an effigy of U.S. President George W. Bush. "We have to show and tell the people how unjust America's actions are to try to attack the Taliban without any concrete evidence," said Abdul Khaliq, spokesman for the hardline Jamiat Ulema Islam. "The government should know what the people are thinking," Khaliq added. "If Musharraf supports the Taliban that is good, if not he is our enemy," said one protester in Peshawar who described himself as a mujahid, or holy warrior. Hundreds of thousands are expected to participate in rallies after midday prayers, said a spokesman for the groups organising the protests, including the militant Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM). "We have issued a call for a peaceful strike and assured the authorities that there will be no violence," the spokesman said. "This hasty decision made by the Pakistani government does not enjoy the support of the masses since this is tantamount to mortgaging the national sovereignty for mean and petty games," Qazi Hussein Ahmed, head of Pakistan's largest Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami, said in Islamabad on Thursday. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |