3 killed in firing on Pak. protesters

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, NOV. 9. At least three persons were killed and scores injured in sporadic violence that marked the strike organised by the religious parties of Pakistan in protest against the decision of the Musharraf Government to extend support to the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan.

Life in most parts of urban Pakistan was affected on account of the strike and all the major towns witnessed demonstrations, despite the fact that the leading lights of religious parties are under house arrest.

However it was difficult to judge the impact on normal life as it coincided with a public holiday to commemorate the birth anniversary of Allama Iqbal, the national poet of Pakistan.

The Musharraf Government has reason to be concerned as well as happy over the way the day progressed. Disruption of normal life is a definite indication that as the holy month of Ramadan approaches (November 17) there will be greater pressure on the Government to force the U.S. and its allies to halt the military campaign in neighbouring Afghanistan.

At the same time barring the police firing on a crowd of violent protesters in the D.G. Khan town in the Punjab province, there were no reports of violence and destruction of public property from any other part of the country. This showed that though the overwhelming majority of the people of Pakistan were opposed to U.S. action in Afghanistan, they were not prepared to take law into their hands or do any thing that could destabilise the Musharraf Government.

The relatively peaceful passage of the strike was largely on account of the extraordinary security measures taken by the military government in the last few days. The decision to round up the leading lights of religious parties and put them under house arrest paid off. More than 500 activists of various religious parties were detained on Thursday as a security measure.

The strike was organised by the Afghan Defence Council, an alliance of 35 Islamic groups and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) was the only mainstream political party to extend support to the strike. The PML as it stands is a rudderless ship with the former Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, away in Saudi Arabia on exile. No wonder there was hardly any reports of the activists of the PML on the streets today.

The chief of the Afghan Defence Council and leader of the Jamait- e-Ulema, Maulana Samiul Haq, reportedly made a speech in the capital of NWFP, Peshawar, during the day asking Gen. Musharraf to step down in the wake of the strike.

``After today's successful strike Musharraf has no right to remain in power... and he should step down,'' he was quoted as saying. Mr. Haq told several thousand demonstrators that if Musharraf did not end Pakistan's support, ``we will launch (a) civil disobedience movement.''

The trouble in D.G. Khan town broke out as a group of demonstrators sought to block the highway and the railway line. The police opened fire after a clash with the demonstrators.The town is considered to be a stronghold of JI and there was resentment over the house arrest of the JI chief, Quazi Hussain Ahmed. Reports from the town said that tempers were running high.

In Karachi, police teargassed a stone-throwing group of 2,000 demonstrators. Reports said the streets in the major cities of Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Rawalpindi were quieter than usual for a Friday.

In Islamabad shops were shut during the day and streets were deserted.

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