Anti-US protests rock Pakistan

Activists of Jamaat-ud-Dawa Pakistan, set fire to a US flag during a protest rally in Karachi on April 6, 2012. Hundreds of Pakistani Islamist activists poured onto the streets on April 6, demanding holy war and torching US flags to condemn a $10 million US bounty slapped on the founder of a terror group.

ISLAMABAD, Friday

Hundreds of Islamist activists hit the streets of Pakistan yesterday, demanding holy war and torching US flags to condemn a $10 million bounty slapped on the founder of a terror group.

The Defence Council of Pakistan, an alliance of right-wing, religious and extremist groups, organised the rallies to denounce the US move against Hafiz Saeed, whose Lashkar-e-Taiba group was blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Protests were organised in Islamabad, the neighbouring garrison city of Rawalpindi, the central shrine city of Multan and in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

In Muzaffarabad, around 500 activists shouted “Al-Jihad, Al-Jihad (holy war)” as they marched on the city and set fire to a US flag in a main square.

Speakers urged President Asif Ali Zardari to cancel a visit to India on Sunday and demanded an American apology for the bounty.

“We condemn American announcement against Hafiz Saeed,” cried a banner at the rally, which was attended by members of other banned and religious groups.

Activists of Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Jamat-e-Islami, which has seats in parliament, gathered in Islamabad and Rawalpindi to shout anti-American and anti-Indian slogans.

In Rawalpindi, around 150 activists set fire to an American flag, shouting “death to America” after yesterday prayers, an AFP photographer said.

In Islamabad, around 150 Islamists assembled outside the national press club and shouted “Al-Jihad and we stand by Hafiz Saeed”.

“Our government should summon the US ambassador in Islamabad and lodge a strong protest against the US decision,” former Jamat-e-Islami lawmaker Mian Muhammad Aslam told a news conference before the rally.

He also told Zardari to cancel his visit to India, the first by a Pakistani head of state since 2005.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Multan and also burnt an American flag, an AFP reporter said.

“Our protests will continue until the US withdraws its bounty of $10 million against Hafiz Saeed,” Defence Council of Pakistan organiser Hafiz Abdul Ghaffar told AFP.