Posted on 10/26/2001 2:08:20 PM PDT by Pericles
Friday October 26 3:03 PM ET
Pakistani Islamists Ask Army to Topple Musharraf
A Pakistani man yells Allah Akbar (God is great) during an anti-U.S. demonstration after Friday prayers in Quetta October 26, 2001. While Pakistan's government supports the U.S.-led attacks on Afghanistan and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, many Pakistanis openly show support for United States' chief suspect in the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. (Jerry Lampen/Reuters)
By Raja Asghar
QUETTA, Pakistani (Reuters) - Pakistan's largest Islamic party called on Friday for the army to topple military ruler General Pervez Musharraf for backing U.S.-led military strikes on neighboring Afghanistan.
``God-willing we will remove Musharraf from power and drag him on to the streets,'' the deputy head of Jamaat-i-Islami, Liaquat Baluch, told thousands of people at a rally in support of Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.
``We also ask the Pakistan army, its corps commanders and staff officers to take a decision according to their conscience and rid the nation of Musharraf to save the country's future from deterioration, because he is now a risk for the country's security,'' he said.
The call was the first direct appeal for the army to act against Musharraf since the start of protests over the Afghan policy, which have so far failed to make much impact on the streets of Pakistan.
Baluch deputized for Jamaat's leader, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, who was barred by authorities from reaching Quetta, capital of the southwestern province of Baluchistan.
Speeches following Friday prayers have become a weekly fixture and this rally attracted several thousand people to a sports stadium.
``Pakistani people are against Musharraf's policy and his cowardness,'' Baluch said. ``Now he is ineligible to be head of the country and he cannot remain the commander of the Pakistani army.''
MUSHARRAF FIRM
Musharraf has offered the United States intelligence information, the use of Pakistan's airspace and logistical support for the U.S. campaign against the Taliban and Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden, who is accused of planning the September 11 attacks on the United States.
This month Musharraf removed or sidelined key army generals seen as holding hardline Islamic or pro-Taliban views, including three involved in the bloodless 1999 coup that put him in power.
The acting leader of the pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) party, Maulana Abdul Ghani, told the rally that Islamic parties would launch ``direct action'' if Musharraf did not change his pro-American policy.
With rallies so far proving smaller than predicted, Musharraf says most Pakistanis support the country's withdrawal of support for the Taliban and its revived friendship with America.
``Whoever is a friend of America is a traitor,'' chanted protesters at the rally in Quetta, where hospitals receive Afghans injured by U.S. bombing.
The crowd burned effigies of both Musharraf and President Bush at the rally, from which organizers barred foreign women journalists.
There may not actually be a lot to worry about. The Taliban doesn't seem to have a lot of popular support in Pakistan.
Niether does the U.S.
Did ou see this thread from a couple of days ago: Pakistani nuclear scientist arrested. The thrust of the thread is:
The former head of Pakistan's nuclear research programme, who is also an outspoken supporter of Islamic radicals, has been arrested in Pakistan and placed in "protective custody", the government said today.
Sultan Bashiru-Din Mehmood was arrested yesterday by Pakistani intelligence officials in the eastern city of Lahore.
"We don't know on what charges," his son Asim Mehmood said.
Relatives said that he had been working recently on projects in Afghanistan, including land development, educational reform and food programmes.
The authorities would not say why Mr Mehmood, who was project director of Pakistan's nuclear program prior to his retirement last year, was arrested.
He was a known supporter of Afghanistan's Taliban regime and had links to other hardline Islamic groups in Pakistan.
Mehmood addressed a gathering of intellectuals last week, calling for a halt to the US bombing and negotiations with the Taliban.
He was detained with another scientist from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, Abdul Majid.
Pakistan is, like its neighbour and arch rival India, a nuclear power armed with atomic weapons.
1) How can we have allowed Pakistan to exist as long as we have? How did we allow this nut to remain in charge of a nuclear research program?
2) Thinking about #1 has led me to another thought. Perhaps this business of Pakistan "cooperating" with the US is just a facade -- perhaps the US has INVADED and OCCUPIED Pakistan and the whole "cooperation" business is just a ploy to keep the radicals from acting up before over-powering military force can be put in place...
Mark W.
From the surname, I'd say the speaker was Baluchi, an ethnic minority in Pakistan populating remote Baluchistan.
The fact that this speech was given in Quetta means the speaker and his party knew they couldn't draw a crowd in the Pakistani heartland of Punjab and Sindh.
The fact that the speaker appealed to the Army to replace Musharaf recognizes the reality that the Pakistani army is firmly in control of the country and there will be no change in power unless they say so.
In other words, this article is good for toilet paper, which BTW, is in short supply in much of Pakistan.
These pycho terrorists in Pakistan wouldn't be a threat anymore if India whipped them out. I have no doubts that the 1 billion plus Indians would rip the towels off their heads. We should side with Russia and India. Pakistan should cease to exist. They can never be trusted.
1 posted on 10/26/01 2:08 PM Pacific by Pericles
Little do these Arabs realize how much they need Amereica's help with friends and neigbors like the Mother of all snuff films--masturbation saddam hussien---you would think they would be begging us to finish him off---for good this time!
Maybe giving them a few good weeks more will encourage them for what they have coming!
Bin Laden does.
They're cranking these Islamabots out of the Pakistani/Taliban madrassas (religious schools) one after the other
Not true.
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