Author:
Publication: Yahoo News
Date: October 26, 2001
URL: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/011026/1/1l8ci.html
At least 50,000 militants massed
in Pakistan's biggest city on Friday, burning the US flag and effigies
of President George W. Bush in the biggest anti-US protest since air strikes
on Afghanistan began.
About 5,000 police were on the streets
to prevent trouble as the giant rally -- estimated at 50,000 people by
Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil -- heard speeches by leaders of radical
Muslim parties condemning the United States and Pakistan governments.
Demonstrations were also held in
several other major cities.
But the Karachi gathering was by
far the biggest anti-US rally in Pakistan since air strikes started on
October 7 against Taliban targets to force them to hand over terrorist
suspect Osama bin Laden.
Demonstrators carried portraits
of bin Laden, a Saudi dissident, and shouted slogans against the United
States and Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, who has thrown his weight
behind the US campaign to track down the prime suspect in the September
11 terror attacks in New York and Washington.
Effigies of the Pakistani president
were set alight alongside those of Bush.
Despite regular demonstrations against
the US bombing onslaught, Musharraf's handling of the crisis has generally
been backed by most Pakistanis.
But Samiul Haq, head of the Afghanistan
Defence Council, a coalition of radical pro-Taliban groups, said Musharraf
was "a traitor of Muslim nations. He should resign and leave the country."
Haq added: "The Taliban are a symbol
of Islam. This will be a long war against the infidel forces. They want
to eliminate Muslims."
Other speakers called on the Pakistan
army to overthrow Musharraf, a general who himself seized power.
In Lahore police baton-charged demonstrators
blocking a city-centre road.
In the southwestern city of Quetta,
police said more than 20,000 protestors gathered at a disused cricket ground
on the outskirts of town chanting: "Death to America" and "Osama is Great."
Hundreds of military personnel and
police carrying guns and batons lined the streets and most roads around
the cricket ground were cordoned off with razor wire.
About 1,000 people marched through
the centre of Multan, also condemning Musharraf and the United States.
Demonstrations were also scheduled in Rawalpindi and Peshawar.
Pakistani authorities stopped a
prominent fundamentalist leader from traveling to Quetta to lead the rally.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, chief of the
Jamaat-i-Islami group, was stopped at Islamabad airport as he attempted
to board a plane to the capital of Baluchistan province, a party spokesman
said.
Spokesman Mansoor Jaffer slammed
the move, saying it was the second time the government had "misused its
authority to obstruct the right of free movement and expression of dissent
against the anti-Islamic policies of President Pervez Musharraf."
Rallies have been held across Pakistan
on Fridays since the US-led military actions started in Afghanistan nearly
three weeks ago.
(AFP)
