PAKISTAN: RALLY IN ISLAMABAD IN PROTEST OF THE ARMED FORCES CAMPAIGN ALONG THE AFGHAN BORDER TO FLUSH OUT AL QAEDA FIGHTERS.

Record ID: 215475

  • Title: PAKISTAN: RALLY IN ISLAMABAD IN PROTEST OF THE ARMED FORCES CAMPAIGN ALONG THE AFGHAN BORDER TO FLUSH OUT AL QAEDA FIGHTERS.
  • Date: 26th March 2004
  • Summary: (W7) ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (MARCH 26, 2004)(REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) 1. WS: OF NEWS BRIEFING. 0.04 2. MV: JOURNALISTS. 0.07 3. WS/ZOOM IN: (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) PAKISTANI INFORMATION MINISTER, SHEIKH RASHID AHMED, SAYING: "Today, I strongly condemn these provocative, baseless and absurd allegations made by Aymal Zawahiri. These baseless allegati
  • Embargoed: 10th April 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Reuters ID: LVA31KBA3EK1XH24Z5W1QH9LPR74
  • Story Text: Pakistan denies "Zawahri tape"; conservative Islamic
    politicians demand an end to the offensive in Wana.



    AUDIO/QUALITY AS INCOMING

    Pakistan dismissed as ridiculous and provocative a
    taped message, apparently from Osama bin Laden's deputy,
    calling for the overthrow of the government, and vowed on
    Friday (March 26) to step up the hunt for al Qaeda fighters.

    President Pervez Musharraf's government said more
    troops would be sent to its semi-autonomous tribal
    territories bordering Afghanistan to reinforce a bloody
    campaign to flush out al Qaeda fighters and their Pakistani
    tribal allies.

    The 11-day operation sparked a defiant message
    purportedly by bin Laden's right-hand man, Ayman
    al-Zawahri, calling on
    Pakistanis to overthrow Musharraf and describing the
    Pakistani leader as a "traitor" to Islam working for the
    United States.

    Military and government spokesmen derided the threat as
    ridiculous and cowardly.

    "Today, I strongly condemn these provocative, baseless
    and absurd allegations made by Ayman Zawahri," Pakistan's
    information minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, told a news conference in
    Islamabad on Friday (March 26).

    "These baseless allegations, which have been made
    against the president and the armed forces of Pakistan, are
    aimed at creating unrest and anarchy in the country. I
    strongly condemn them. We will not allow our soil to be
    used for terrorism by any foreigner, at any cost; we wiil
    not allow our land to be used as a launching pad against
    any other country," he added.

    The voice on the audio-only tape, aired on Arabic Al
    Jazeera television, was "likely" that of Zawahri, a CIA
    official in the United States said.

    The tape, the second believed to have been made by
    Zawahri calling for Pakistanis to revolt since September,
    came just days after Pakistan hinted that its forces might
    have trapped the fugitive in a battle near the Afghan
    border. The military later said that was just guesswork.

    Nearly 100 people have been killed since last week when
    paramilitary forces hunting al Qaeda fighters and their
    tribal allies ran into a hail of bullets as they approached
    a suspect's house in the lawless South Waziristan tribal
    region.

    The battle, involving 5,000 troops, is Pakistan's
    biggest ever in the region and comes after Musharraf
    narrowly escaped two assassination attempts in December,
    blamed on Muslim militants.

    Thousands of protesters, chanting "Musharraf is a dog",
    "Down with America", and other slogans gathered in
    Rawalpindi and other cities, accusing the government of
    pandering to U.S. President George W. Bush at the expense
    of Muslims.

    Several thousand men gathered on a main road in
    Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad on Friday (March 26)
    to cheer speakers
    from conservative Islamic parties denouncing President
    Pervez Musharraf and the United States.

    Led by leaders of various religious parties, the crowd
    marched through various streets of the garrison city,
    chanting "Down with Musharraf" and " Any friend of America
    is a traitor!"
    "We will instil hatred of the United States in every
    Pakistani child," read one banner as some protesters burned
    and beat an effigy of Musharraf after conservative Islamic
    politicians demanded an end to the offensive.

    "In all the big cities and towns of Pakistan, the
    Pakistani Muslims have come out into the streets to show
    solidarity with the tribal people and to show their hatred
    for America and Israel," Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Chief of the
    Jamaat-e-Islami Party, told the charged crowd.

    "The entire nation has come out to ask Pervez Musharraf
    to resign. My comrades, Pervez Musharraf is the root cause
    of all problems," he added.

    Around 300 Islamists rallied in the northwestern city
    of Peshawar to protest against the military operation in
    the South Waziristan tribal region.

    The protestors adopted a resolution calling on the
    government to withdraw troops from the tribal region
    mmediately.

    Opposition politicians say the sweep was launched only
    because of pressure from Washington. U.S. forces have
    launched their own hunt for al Qaeda and Taliban fighters
    on the Afghan side of the border.

    Pakistan, while supporting the U.S. war on terror since
    the September 11, 2001, attacks, has faced a storm of
    Afghan complaints that it was failing to stop militants
    launching attacks from the safety of Pakistan's tribal
    lands.

    But Pakistani opposition lawmakers say the fighting
    risks inflaming tribal people and could destabilise the
    country.





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