MESSAGE
| DATE | 2005-09-03 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Rational Heads prevail in Pakestan
|
US and Israeli flags torched in Pakistan protests
Pakistan Times Federal Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD: Hardline Islamic parties in PakistaPakistan's Jafaria
Alliance torch a US flag during a protest rally in Karachi o Friday,
Sep-2, 2005.n have burned American and Israeli flags in protest against
the first formal talks with Israel, but turnout at the rallies was lower
than expected.
A few hundred supporters of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an
alliance of six religious parties that leads Pakistan's opposition, took
to the streets outside mosques in a number of cities after Friday
prayers.
There were no reports of clashes with police but security was increased
for the protests and officers stood by without intervening.
"You have to remove the government," alliance chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed
told a rally in the northwestern city of Peshawar, arguing that it had
put national sovereignty into US hands.
The alliance rules the government of the staunchly Muslim North West
Frontier Province, of which Peshawar is the capital.
Call by Qazi
"Stand up against Musharraf, who is protecting American interests," Qazi
told a gathering of some 300 people shouting slogans outside a mosque,
witnesses said.
Musharraf has defended Thursday's talks between Pakistan's Foreign
Minister Khurshid Kasuri and his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom in
Turkey, the first official diplomatic contact after nearly 60 years of
hostility.
He said the meeting did not mean Pakistan, the world's second biggest
Muslim country, recognised the Jewish state and that Islamabad would
only do so once a Palestinian homeland is established.
Musharraf was once backed by the Islamic parties but has angered them by
supporting Washington's "war on terror" and by cracking down on
extremists after the July-7 London bombings.
In the eastern city of Lahore, some 400 people flocked to the
headquarters of MMA chief Qazi's Jamaat-e-Islami party, saying
Thursday's meeting was a step towards recognising Israel.
"The steps taken towards recognition of Israel will be stopped by
force," party secretary general Syed Munawwar Hasan told the crowd.
A separate crowd of Shiite Muslim demonstrators also burned US and
Israeli flags in the city during a demonstration to express their
solidarity with the victims of a deadly stampede in Iraq earlier this
week.
Around three dozen MMA workers staged a rally in the capital Islamabad,
against the meeting with Israel.
Placards
"The meeting was an insult to the sentiments of 150 million people in
Pakistan," alliance leader Mian Aslam said.
Protesters carried placards saying, "We will not approve friendship with
Israel" and "Israelis are murderers of Palestinians".
These religious leaders criticised Musharraf for not consulting
parliament and the people of Pakistan before the talks.
Some 300 people held a rally in the central city of Multan, regarded as
a hotbed of extremism, and burned US and Israeli flags, witnesses said.
"Friends of Jews are foes of Muslims," read one protester's placard.
"The meeting was a stab in the back for the Palestinian struggle and a
withdrawal of Pakistan's stance on the issue of Palestine," Islamic
leader Mufti Hidayat Ullah Pasroori said.
In the southern port city of Karachi, small protests were held outside
several Sunni Muslim mosques. Witnesses said separate protests were also
organised by the the minority Shiite Muslim community.
In-depth
A firebrand Muslim cleric lashed out Friday at Pakistan's President for
initiating talks with Israel without telling the nation first, but, some
reports say that rallies protesting the contacts fizzled.
In the biggest rally, about 300 supporters of an opposition coalition of
six Islamic parties, Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, or MMA, gathered in the
northwestern city of Peshawar.
Smaller protests were staged by the coalition in Quetta and Karachi. At
a rally in Rawalpindi, near the capital, only about a dozen people
showed up.
MMA's chief, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, sharply criticized President Musharraf
for sending Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri to Turkey for talks with
his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom on Thursday, despite the
government's insistence it does not signal imminent diplomatic ties with
the Jewish state.
"The meeting between Kasuri and Israeli foreign minister is a first
toward recognition of Israel," Qazi told the rally in Peshawar.
Also Friday, Islamic party lawmakers staged a walkout of the lower house
of the parliament.
"Only one individual took this decision. We can not accept it," said
Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, deputy chief of the coalition of Islamic parties.
Perspective
The landmark meeting between representatives of Israel and Pakistan, a
Muslim country that in the past has taken a harder line against Israel
than some Arab countries, followed the removal of Jewish settlers from
the Gaza Strip.
Musharraf has previously angered Pakistani opposition groups by calling
for a debate on whether Pakistan should recognize the Jewish state, and
courted further criticism by agreeing to speak at a Jewish interfaith
conference in New York later this month.
Pakistan officials have said there are no plans for Musharraf to meet
with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon when they are in New York to
attend a U.N. General Assembly meeting.
On Friday, Israel said that talk of a possible meeting between Sharon
and Musharraf was premature.
"We have to examine carefully how the issue is received by public
opinion in Pakistan," Ron Prosor, director general of the Israeli
Foreign Ministry, told Israel Army Radio. We have to build this (closer
contacts) the way we have built the meeting so far."â—
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