TimesofIndia

Protests spread in Pakistan

PESHAWAR: Thousands of radical Islamists took to the streets of this frontier city on Friday, calling a general strike and warning of global jehad in anticipation of a US attack on neighbouring Afghanistan.

An effigy of George W Bush was seen torched, as were a number of US flags as the different groups of protestors, estimated to total up to 10,000 according to a number of witnesses, wound their way through the city centre.

Protestors were mostly members of Pakistan's hardline Jamiat-Ulema-i-Islami (JUI), although several Pakistan-based Taliban were seen among the crowds and several other previously unheard of minor groups have also sprung up since the attacks in the US.

"This is just the beginning. If the Americans dare to attack Afghanistan, then the real jehad will start," one JUI official, who refused to give his name, said.

"Pakistan must not help the infidels. If it does, first we will destroy America and then we will make Pakistan a true Islamic state."

Across the main roads of Peshawar's Old City, there were cries of "Long Live Osama Bin Laden! Long Live the Taliban!" as curious residents and a hoard of foreign media looked on.

But despite a call for a general strike in the city, which lies just across the Khyber Pass from Afghanistan, it appeared to be mostly business as usual. As on most other Fridays most shops were closed while some stayed open.

Police armed with batons, shields and tear gas guns also stepped up their presence for the protests, which have risen in numbers in the past few days but have so far remained controlled affairs.

There were several reports of brief scuffles, including one from a female French television journalist who said she was pushed and beaten by a group of demonstrators.

But Friday sermons from Peshawar's main mosques showed the mixed sentiments in the city. Several fiery speeches were given in the Old City, while in the more plush University Town and Saddar Bazaar the tone was more one of trying to dampen the mounting tension.

Peshawar is already home to tens of thousands of Afghan refugees and after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan 1979 the city had to cope with over one million arrivals. Few residents welcome the prospect of a new influx. A closed border has kept this to a trickle so far but authorities are preparing for up to 800,000 people flooding across the border.

Provincial officials have admitted they are concerned for security in the city in the event of a US attack on the Taliban and Bin Laden, who has been blamed for the September 11 kamikaze passenger jet attacks on New York and Washington.

Foreigners in the city, mostly members of the international press, have also been warned to remain confined to certain areas, and provincial government sources said they would soon bar all movement of foreigners outside the city, including to the Afghan refugee camps and the Khyber Pass. ( AFP )

-- Anonymous, September 21, 2001