Author: Raja Asghar
Publication: Reuters
Date: October 26, 2001
Quetta, Pakistani (Reuters) - Pakistan's
largest Islamic party called on Friday for the army to topple military
ruler General Pervez Musharraf for backing U.S.-led military strikes on
neighboring Afghanistan.
"God-willing we will remove Musharraf
from power and drag him on to the streets," the deputy head of Jamaat-i-
Islami, Liaquat Baluch, told thousands of people at a rally in support
of Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.
"We also ask the Pakistan army,
its corps commanders and staff officers to take a decision according to
their conscience and rid the nation of Musharraf to save the country's
future from deterioration, because he is now a risk for the country's security,"
he said.
The call was the first direct appeal
for the army to act against Musharraf since the start of protests over
the Afghan policy, which have so far failed to make much impact on the
streets of Pakistan.
Baluch deputized for Jamaat's leader,
Qazi Hussain Ahmad, who was barred by authorities from reaching Quetta,
capital of the southwestern province of Baluchistan.
Speeches following Friday prayers
have become a weekly fixture and this rally attracted several thousand
people to a sports stadium.
"Pakistani people are against Musharraf's
policy and his cowardness," Baluch said. "Now he is ineligible to be head
of the country and he cannot remain the commander of the Pakistani army."
MUSHARRAF FIRM
Musharraf has offered the United
States intelligence information, the use of Pakistan's airspace and logistical
support for the U.S. campaign against the Taliban and Saudi-born dissident
Osama bin Laden, who is accused of planning the September 11 attacks on
the United States.
This month Musharraf removed or
sidelined key army generals seen as holding hardline Islamic or pro-Taliban
views, including three involved in the bloodless 1999 coup that put him
in power.
The acting leader of the pro-Taliban
Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) party, Maulana Abdul Ghani, told the rally that
Islamic parties would launch "direct action" if Musharraf did not change
his pro-American policy.
With rallies so far proving smaller
than predicted, Musharraf says most Pakistanis support the country's withdrawal
of support for the Taliban and its revived friendship with America.
"Whoever is a friend of America
is a traitor," chanted protesters at the rally in Quetta, where hospitals
receive Afghans injured by U.S. bombing.
The crowd burned effigies of both
Musharraf and President Bush at the rally, from which organizers barred
foreign women journalists.
