Islamabad, October 8
Anti-American demonstrators burned down four movie theatres in Quetta today and clashed with the police in three other cities, even as Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said his endorsement of US attacks against terrorists in Afghanistan enjoyed wide support. However, some religious leaders called for an Islamic holy war.In Quetta, protesters ignited tires, torched the UNICEF office and theatres burned the before the police dispersed them with tear gas. Tear gas also was used to scatter 2,000 Taliban supporters as they emerged from a mosque in Peshawar and began to demonstrate.
At least four persons were injured when the police opened fire on hundreds of demonstrators in the border town of Landikotal when they tried to stage a pro-Taliban rally.
President Pervez Musharraf, saying that he had talked with fellow citizens, expressed certainty during a press conference that "the vast majority" back his decision to offer help in the fight against the Al-Qaida network of Osama bin Laden.
The US attacks on Afghan cities last night drew quick impassioned condemnation by some of Pakistan’s most influential religious leaders. Several called the military strikes a direct attack on Islam.
"It is the duty of every Muslim to support their brothers in this critical hour," said Riaz Durana, central leader of pro-Taliban Afghan Defence Council in Lahore.
The council, which comprises more than 30 religious and militant groups, issued a call for jehad.
"We appeal to all Muslims living anywhere in the world to extend full support to their Afghan brothers in this critical time," said Sazid Mir, president of Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith Pakistan, an organisation of Muslim clerics.
In the frontier town of Chaman, nearly 6,000 persons both Pakistanis and — Afghans from across the border -demonstrated peacefully by sitting cross-legged on a major road, shutting it down and burning a straw effigy of the President.
"Shame, shame, Musharraf," people shouted. "Long live Osama."
In Islamabad, some 3,000 students broke through police lines and staged a noisy sit-in protest opposite the heavily-guarded American Center.
Fearful of becoming a target of the Islamists’ wrath, Westerners living in Islamabad mostly kept away from their offices and worked out of their homes.
In Karachi, protesters spearheaded by students blocked main roads. Tribesmen living in the Sohrabgoth suburbs blockaded the main national highway linking the port city with rest of the country for an hour.
DPA, AP
