KHAR: Thousands of tribesmen and students staged separate rallies on Monday in Bajaur Agency, demanding that the government open up the area to the media and politicians, as protests continued against last week’s deadly raid on a local madrassa. Around 5,000 tribesmen, including several gun-wielding masked militants, gathered in Loi Sam village, 15 kilometres west of the agency’s main town of Khar. Among the chants heard were: “Death to Bush, Death to America”, “Jihad” and “Anyone who is a friend of America is a traitor”. Witnesses said that chants denouncing President General Pervez Musharraf could also be heard. The government has said that its helicopter gunships had launched the October 30 air strike that left 82 dead because the madrassa served as a training camp for Al Qaeda-linked militants. The terror network’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawihiri, had been a past visitor to the seminary, security officials have said. Locals and an Islamic opposition party, however, have blamed the air strike on a United States military operation, possibly involving a missile fired from a Predator drone.
Opposition lawmakers have produced a list of victims, allegedly showing that almost all were young students. They have called for an emergency parliamentary debate. Senator Abdur Rahid, from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, addressed the gathering, saying: “The government should allow national and international media and politicians to visit the area to know the facts and inform the outside world.”