YEMEN-SECURITY/SAUDI-PAKISTAN PROTEST Pakistani Sunnis call for Islamabad to support Saudi in Yemen

Record ID: 159106

  • Title: YEMEN-SECURITY/SAUDI-PAKISTAN PROTEST Pakistani Sunnis call for Islamabad to support Saudi in Yemen
  • Date: 19th April 2015
  • Summary: LAHORE, PAKISTAN (APRIL 19, 2015) (REUTERS) BANNER ON OVERHEAD BRIDGE BEARING PICTURE OF SAUDI KING AND JAMIAT AHLEHADITH LEADERS READING (Urdu): "DEFENCE OF HARMAIN SHARIFAIN (ISLAMIC HOLY PLACES) RALLY" PICTURE OF SAUDI KING AND JAMIAT AHLEHADITH LEADERS PROTESTERS MARCHING, RIDING VEHICLES VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNERS AND PAKISTAN FLAGS, DRIVING AND MARCHING VARIOUS OF AERIAL VIEW OF RALLY PROTESTERS CHANTING SLOGANS IN SUPPORT OF SAUDI ARABIA, WAVING FLAGS PROTEST LEADERS IN TRUCK MOTORCYCLISTS IN RALLY CROWD LISTENING TO SPEECH PROTESTERS HOLDING UP PLACARDS CHANTING (Arabic): "GOD IS GREATEST" CROWD LISTENING MEN WEARING SHROUDS TO SHOW READINESS TO DIE, HOLDING UP PLACARDS AND CHANTING (Urdu): "LABBAIK" (I AM PRESENT) (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) HEAD OF JAMIAT AHLEHADITH, SAJID MIR, SAYING: "These people gathered here demand that the government of Pakistan, in return for Saudi Arabia's kindness and as a moral duty, help Saudi Arabia the way Saudi Arabia has been helping Pakistan." MEN WEARING SHROUDS SITTING ON GROUND (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) LAHORE CHIEF OF JAMIAT AHLEHADITH, RANA MOHAMMD NASRULLAH KHAN, SAYING: "The way Saudi Arabia always helps Pakistan unconditionally, we should also favour them unconditionally according to their wishes." MEN WEARING SHROUDS AND HEADBANDS INSCRIBED WITH KORANIC VERSES / HOLDING PLACARDS, SOME WITH PICTURE OF SAUDI KING CLERIC ADDRESSING CROWD
  • Embargoed: 4th May 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4ZWSGOL2ZDLB8GF33GP6HIDJI
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hundreds of Pakistani Sunnis took to streets of the eastern city of Lahore on Sunday (April 19) to urge the government to support Saudi Arabia in its campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
    Pakistan's parliament voted on Friday not to join the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, dashing Riyadh's hopes for powerful support from outside of the region in its fight to halt the Iranian-allied Houthis.
    Saudi Arabia had asked fellow Sunni-majority Pakistan to provide ships, aircraft and troops for the campaign, now in its third week, to stem the influence of Shi'ite Iran in what appears to be proxy war between the Gulf's two dominant powers.
    While Saudi Arabia has the support of its Sunni Gulf Arab neighbours, Pakistan's parliament voted against becoming militarily involved.
    Holding banners, placards and Pakistani flags, the protesters, belonging to the Jamiat Ahlehadith group, marched through the streets of Lahore.
    Some protesters wore shrouds to show their readiness to die and chanted "Labbaik (I am present)".
    "These people gathered here demand that the government of Pakistan, in return for Saudi Arabia's kindness and as a moral duty, help Saudi Arabia the way Saudi Arabia has been helping Pakistan," said Sajid Mir, the leader of the group, a religio-political party which receives some support from Saudi Arabia.
    "The way Saudi Arabia always helps Pakistan unconditionally, we should also favour them unconditionally according to their wishes," said Rana Mohammad Nasrullah, the Lahore chief of the party.
    Joining the Saudi-led coalition could inflame a sectarian conflict at home where about a fifth of the population is Shi'ite and attacks on Shi'ites are increasing, further destabilising the nuclear-armed nation of 180 million people.
    Pakistan has strong economic, religious and military ties to Saudi Arabia but also a long and porous border with Iran in a mineral-rich region plagued by a separatist insurgency.
    Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wound up a two-day trip to Pakistan last week in which he urged Pakistan to reject the Saudi request.
    Pakistani Prime minister Nawaz Sharif has repeatedly said Pakistan will defend any threat to Saudi Arabia's "territorial integrity" without defining what action such a threat might provoke.
    Shi'ite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia are rivals for power in the volatile Middle East and many in Sunni-majority Pakistan fear being caught between them if Pakistani troops are sent to Yemen.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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