Tens of thousands of Pakistanis rally against the US war on Iraq, News March 3, 2003 www.aljazeerah.info

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Tens of thousands of Pakistanis rally against war in Iraq
Karachi |From Mujahid Ali | Gulf News, 03-03-2003

Tens of thousands of Islamists, some chanting "America is the terrorist", marched in the southern city of Karachi yesterday to protest a possible U.S.-led war on Iraq as a heavy police contingent kept security tight.

The demonstration, the first of two planned "Million Man Marches" in Pakistan against a potential Iraqi war, was the largest so far.

The protesters vowed to boycott U.S. goods as a mark of solidarity with Baghdad and warned their government against voting in favour of the United States in the UN Security Council on any resolution targeting Iraq.

"Pakistan should vote against America at the UN Security Council," Maulana Fazalur Rehman, a central leader of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal - the pro-Afghan Taliban alliance of six religious parties, told a huge rally in the port city of Karachi.

"The nation has rejected the pro-U.S. foreign policy of President General Pervez Musharraf," he said as rally participants shouted "Friends of America are traitors".

America wants to seize the oil and wealth of Muslims, said Rehman, who is the chief of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam - the staunchest supporter of the Taliban.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed, another central leader of the MMA and chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, said the government should not abstain from vote at the U.S. Security Council. Pakistan is one of the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council.

Pakistan, which is a key ally of the United States in war against terrorism, has so far remained non-committal on which way it is going to vote at the world body. Ahmed said the government would not be allowed to abstain from the voting. "Any attack on Iraq would be considered an assault on Islam," he said.

The rally was so far the biggest pro-Iraq rally in Pakistan, which was held at the M.A. Jinnah Road. While there were conflicting claims about the number of participants at the rally - independent observers say that the number was more than 100,000. But the MMA leaders claimed that the number of participants was more than three million - a claim taken as highly exaggerated.

Mairaj Mohammed Khan, general secretary of cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan's Tehrik-e-Insaaf, urged the people to boycott American goods. The Tehrik-e-Insaaf is not the member of the MMA.

Khan, a former leftist leader, urged the people to mobilise themselves against the designs of what he called American imperialism.

Earlier, Rehman the leader of the JUI, paid tribute to the people of Europe and those Americans opposing the war. "American is the biggest terrorist and aggressor," he said. "We will resist any attack on Iraq. Saddam Hussain is not alone. We are with him," he said. Many participants of the rally were carrying pictures of Osama bin Laden. Others were carrying banners saying "No war for oil".

Security forces made unprecedented security arrangements. Not just roads outside the U.S. Consulate, British Deputy High Commission and residences of diplomats belonging to the two countries were sealed, but several other leading roads in the heart of the city were closed for traffic, including the one outside the Governor House.

In several volatile neighbourhoods, police escorted the processions of buses and vehicles heading toward the MMA rally.

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