|
Pakistan Islamists vow more protests as leader freed
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-20 20:11
Pakistan's main Islamist alliance vowed on Monday to
hold more protests against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad as authorities freed
its leader from a day in house arrest to prevent him leading a weekend rally.
Indonesian Muslims shout as they hold up a
Danish flag in front of a local parliament building Monday Feb. 20, 2006
in Lomangan, Central Java. Around 100 people gathered outside the local
parliament building in Lamongan, shouting 'God is Great' before burning a
Danish flag in continued protest against drawings of the Muslim prophet
Muhammad published in a danish newspaper.[AP] |
The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) alliance said most of the 3,463 opposition
supporters it says were detained at the weekend were still being held, but its
president, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, was allowed to leave the eastern city of Lahore
on Monday morning.
Ahmed later arrived in Islamabad to chair a meeting of the six-party
alliance, MMA spokesman Shahid Shamsi said. He said "some children" among the
detained had been freed, but most, including some members of parliament, were
still being held.
The government has said arrests were made but gave no figure.
Shamsi said the MMA planned a countrywide protest on Friday, another in
Lahore on Sunday, and a nationwide general strike on March 3. Another protest
would be held on March 5 in Karachi, the country's commercial capital, he said.
The planned protests could coincide with a visit to Pakistan by President
George W. Bush, expected in early March, although no dates for this visit have
yet been announced.
Cartoons first published in a Danish newspaper and reprinted in other
European papers have sparked worldwide protests by Muslims who believe it is
blasphemous to depict the Prophet.
Some have turned violent, raising fears of a clash of
civilizations between the West and Islam.
|
