Author:
Publication: The Times of India
Date: October 10, 2001
Karachi (AFP) - Radical Pakistani
Islamic leader Abdullah Shah Mazhar Wednesday threatened to launch suicide
attacks against the United States and "infidel" forces as some 5,000 followers
took an "oath of death."
Mazhar, a former leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad
militant group which was included this year on British terrorist blacklist,
claimed thousands of supporters of his new Islamist group, Tehreek-al-Furqan,
were ready to die.
"Some 10,000 fidayeen (kamikaze
soldiers) of Tehreek-al- Furqan will carry out the attacks against US and
all the infidel forces," Mazhar told an anti-US rally in this southern
city.
Some 5,000 people later took the
"oath of death" by raising their hands to show their readiness to fight
against the United States.
Mazhar said his new party, which
translates as Movement to Distinguish Between Right and Wrong, "supports
all jihadi outfits and religious parties."
Jaish-e-Mohammed (Army of Mohammad)
is a hardline militant group fighting to end Indian rule in the Muslim
majority state of Kashmir.
It was formed early last year by
Maulana Masood Azhar, a leading Pakistani Islamist who was released from
jail in India as part of a deal to end an Indian Airlines hijacking in
December 1999.
It draws its strength mainly from
the extreme elements of the Deobandi school of Sunni Islam, to which Afghanistan's
ruling Taliban militia also adhere.
The Taliban are being attacked by
US-led air strikes for their refusal to extradite alleged terrorist Osama
Bin Laden.
The protestors burnt US, British
and Israeli flags here Wednesday, as well as effigies of President George
W Bush.
They chanted slogans such as "Al-Furqan,
Al-Furqan, Pakistani Taliban" and "Death to Bush, Death to Musharraf."
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
has pledged his full cooperation with the international community's stance
against terrorism following the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Pakistani security forces are gearing
up for widespread anti-US protests after Muslim prayers on Friday.
