One killed in Pak. violence

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, OCT. 14. There is renewed violence in Pakistan in protest against the U.S.-led military campaign against Afghanistan with one person being killed and 10 injured on the outskirts of Jacobabad town in the Sind province today as activists of a religious party attempted to march towards an airfield reportedly placed at the disposal of the U.S.

Reports from Jacobabad said that police fired in the air as they tried to disperse several thousand anti-American demonstrators. The protesters, who had evaded a huge security cordon around the city, hurled stones, prompting paramilitary rangers and police to fire in the air and use teargas to try to break them up.

Some 3,000 paramilitary rangers as well as soldiers have been deployed around the town after a faction of the Jamait-Ulema Islami (JUI) called for a siege of the airport to protest the U.S. `military presence'.

When the police tried to prevent them from breaking the barricades, the protesters reportedly fought pitched battles and in the process the police opened fire.

The reports said the crowds raised slogans such as ``Down with Bush dog,'' ``American graveyard - Afghanistan and Hero of Islam, Osama bin Laden''.

Pakistan, as part of its pledge to offer the U.S. non-combat logistical support for raids on Afghanistan, has allowed U.S. forces onto two airports - Jacobabad and remote Pasni on the Arabian Sea coast.

The defiant mood of the religious activists just a day before the arrival of the U.S. Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, does not augur well for the military campaign and is a reflection of the problems ahead for the Musharraf regime with every passing day of the attacks on the Taliban.

Gen. Powell is expected to arrive here tomorrow on a working visit in a bid to shore up support for the military Government battling the hardliners opposed to its support to the U.S. in its fight against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.

The religious parties in Pakistan have given a strike call to protest against the U.S. attacks and extension of non-combat logistical support to the U.S. by the Musharraf Government.

For the last three days, the Pakistan Government has been trying convince the people that it has not provided any military bases to the U.S. on its soil for operations against Afghanistan.The Foreign Office spokesman, Mr. Riaz Mohammad Khan, on Saturday gave an elaborate explanation on the rationale behind the decision to provide access to two airfields.

``These are meant only for emergency operations and I am not even sure if the U.S. has availed of the facility. Let me categorically state that there are no U.S. troops based in Pakistan and no military operations are being carried from Pakistani soil''.

Right from the day the U.S. talked about the possibility of military operations in Afghanistan, in the wake of the September 11 incidents, Islamabad has made it absolutely clear that it has no intention whatsoever to participate in the operations.

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