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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (41492)	11/9/2001 8:22:24 AM
From: Pam Wooten	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Ike, Hope you are safe and well. I watched President Musharraf and PM Blair press conference yesterday and thought President Musharraf was outstanding. A very calm, deliberative, thoughtful man and very well spoken. I'll look forward to him speaking again upon arrival in U.S. Cheers, Pam

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (41492)	11/9/2001 8:44:16 AM
From: BubbaFred	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

"...the government has allowed religious parties to express their views, but ``nobody will be allowed to disrupt law and order.'' ``We will be very tough with the law violators,'' dailynews.yahoo.com Friday November 9 7:14 AM ET Pakistan Fundamentalists Stage Strike By MUNIR AHMAD, Associated Press Writer ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Islamic fundamentalists burned tires, blocked transit routes and clashed with police in a nationwide strike Friday to protest the president's pro-U.S. policies in Afghanistan (news - web sites). Three demonstrators were killed in the central city of D.G. Khan. The Afghan Defense Council, an alliance of 35 Islamic groups, organized the strike to denounce President Pervez Musharraf and to express support for Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement. ``After today's successful strike Musharraf has no right to remain in power ... and he should step down,'' said Maulana Samiul Haq, head of the council, speaking in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Haq told several thousand demonstrators that if Musharraf did not end Pakistan's support, ``we will launch (a) civil disobedience movement.'' Haq runs an Islamic seminary near Peshawar which many Taliban leaders attended when they were war refugees in Pakistan. Violence broke out in D.G. Khan, where about 1,000 protesters blocked the railway track and the main highway running through the city, 300 miles south of the capital Islamabad. The protesters placed large rocks on the highway, and sat on the rail line, and then threw stones and fired shots when police tried to remove them, authorities said. Police responded with live fire, killing three protesters, according to Deputy Mayor Hafiz Khalid. All three were members of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, a radical Islamic movement, whose leader Fazle ur-Rehman is being detained in a government guest house. In the volatile port city of Karachi, police fired tear gas to disperse some 2,000 demonstrators who were throwing stones and tried to block main roads. Also, Pakistan authorities arrested an estimated 500 activists throughout the country in overnight raids in an attempt to limit the scale of the protests, government officials said. Those detained were expected to be released Friday evening after the threat of unrest receded, the officials added. Islamic groups have been staging protests every Friday for the past two months. Shortly after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States, Musharraf abandoned Pakistan's support for the Taliban and sided with the United States in its fight against global terrorism. Several of the early protests were violent, but they have been peaceful in recent weeks, and the size of the crowds has diminished. Islamic groups vowed that Friday's strike would be a nationwide action that would shut down the country's largest cities. The overall effect was difficult to gauge - government offices and schools, along with some businesses, ordinarily shut down after midday prayers on Friday, the Muslim Sabbath. Attempting to take some of the momentum out of the strike call, the government also declared Friday a public holiday marking the birthday of Mohammad Iqbal, a philosopher and poet who called for the creation of Pakistan in 1930. The streets in the major cities of Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Rawalpindi were much quieter than usual for a Friday. It was not clear how much was linked to the holiday, and how much was attributable to the strike call. Musharraf's government has tolerated marches and rallies, but has also arrested the leaders of religious parties who have called for the ouster of his military government. The government said Friday's strike was partial and transport was available, while organizers said the strike was a success. In Islamabad, a city of government officials, foreign diplomats and well-to-do businessmen, protests have been rare and shops normally remain open on Fridays. But most shops here were closed Friday. Pakistan's Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider said Thursday that the government has allowed religious parties to express their views, but ``nobody will be allowed to disrupt law and order.'' ``We will be very tough with the law violators,'' he said.