Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ish who wrote (1719)	1/4/2003 11:30:18 PM
From: lorne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15987

Pakistanis torch Bush effigies, warn of danger to Americans Friday, 03-Jan-2003 8:30AM ISLAMABAD, Jan 3 (AFP) - Thousands of hardline Islamists threatened Americans in Pakistan and burnt effigies of US President George W. Bush Friday in nationwide rallies against a possible war on Iraq and perceived US aggression in its hunt for al-Qaeda militants. "If the US attacks Iraq there will be open war here," Maulana Samiul Haq, a leader of the newly powerful Islamic party alliance, hollered before some 400 impassioned protestors outside Islamabad's Red Mosque. "No American will be safe here," he warned, as protestors yelled "Death to America" and brandished placards inscribed with "Stop Muslim Genocide" and "We Stand By Our Iraqi Muslims." The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Islamic bloc, which won massive gains in October elections, led rallies in the capital, the north-west city of Peshawar, commercial port city Karachi, southwestern city of Quetta and the Punjabi cities of Lahore and Multan. Some 2,000 protestors marched through Lahore chanting "war against Iraq is war against Islam." In Peshawar more than 3,000 protestors hit the streets for rallies led by MMA chiefs Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rehman. "We are with Iraq. We will stay with Iraq," Ahmed said. "An attack on Iraq will be considered an attack on Islam," declared Rehman. In Karachi, where only a few hundred protestors turned out, MMA president Shah Ahmed Noorani warned of "war" by jihadi (Islamic fighter) groups if the US attacks Iraq. "It is in their own interest not to attack Iraq, otherwise it can be all-out war between the Americans and the jihadi forces," Noorani told AFP. Around 700 protestors took to the streets in the southwestern city of Quetta carrying posters of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, placards declaring "long live al-Qaeda" and shouting "long live Osama." In Multan around 200 veiled women staged anti-US protests. Anti-US feeling in the country has been fanned in recent weeks by several FBI arrests of doctors and the US bombing of an empty religious school on the Afghan border Sunday, sparking accusations that Washington is treating its key war on terror ally with contempt. In the semi-autonomous border areas, heavily-armed tribal protestors waving the flags of hardline Islamic parties torched Bush effigies and struck the models with the butts of AK-47 rifles. "The Americans have crossed all limits in Pakistan," Haq declared at the Islamabad rally. "They are interfering in our affairs. They are raiding private homes and arresting innocent Muslims, including doctors. This is intolerable." "The Americans are bombing our areas without any fear and shame." Pakistan's moderate government -- a key US ally in its war on terrorism -- opposes unilateral action against Iraq, but has said it would support any decision by the United Nations Security Council. Islamabad took up one of the Council's 10 non-permanent seats on Wednesday but has declined to say how it would vote in a decision on war against Iraq. Extra police and paramilitary troops were deployed around mosques and outside foreign diplomatic missions to guard against outbreaks of violence, but no scuffles were reported. Pakistan's government has been a pivotal supporter of the US-led campaign to crush al-Qaeda and the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan and the hunt for extremists in Pakistan's cities and border areas. Washington's decision last month to subject US-based Pakistanis to extra scrutiny has fuelled public anger that Pakistan is not being acknowledged for its efforts to help stamp out the Taliban and al-Qaeda. prolog.net