Protests of U.S. airstrike continue
PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Thousands of Pakistani protesters took to the streets Friday, chanting “Death to America” and calling for holy war as outrage persisted over an airstrike that devastated a remote border village.
Pakistani authorities suspect al-Qaida operatives had gathered last week at Damadola to plan attacks early this year in Afghanistan and Pakistan, when the meeting was torn apart by U.S. missiles, an intelligence official said.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is a key U.S. ally in the war on terror, but many in the Islamic country resent those ties. Feelings intensified after the deaths of 13 villagers in the Jan. 13 U.S. attack.
Officials believe at least four foreign militants also may have died, including an al-Qaida explosives and chemical weapons expert and a son-in-law of the terror network’s No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Despite the widespread protests calling for Musharraf’s ouster, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said his nation stands solidly behind the United States and its fight against terrorists.
“As regards the relations between Pakistan and the United States, or our conviction about fighting terrorism, there is no question that Pakistan is one of the countries which has done the most because we believe terorrism is no solution to any problems,” he said.
Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, or United Action Forum, an opposition Islamic coalition, has organized a series of anti-U.S. protests across the country, the latest on Friday.
The largest was held in Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province where Damadola is located.
Several thousand people marched from two mosques chanting “Jihad (holy war) is our way” and burning effigies of President Bush. Smaller demonstrations were staged in Lahore and the volatile border town of Wana. No violence was reported.
Pakistani lawyers, meanwhile, held separate protests in various cities. In the capital, Islamabad, about 100 lawyers protested in front of the Supreme Court, chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Musharraf.”
“It seems the country has no sovereignty,” said Abdur Rahman Ansari, deputy chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council. “The rulers have become like slaves.”