Cartoons protest strike closes shops in Pakistan
Security was tightened across Pakistan today during a strike called by radical Islamic groups to protest against the Prophet Mohammed drawings, with most shops and businesses closed in several cities.
Thousands of police and paramilitary troops were on patrol in several large cities and public transport was limited.
About 200 supporters of a radical Islamic group rallied through the north-western city of Peshawar, many chanting “Death to Denmark” – the country where the offensive cartoons were first published in a newspaper in September - and “death to America”.
In the capital, Islamabad, where US President George Bush was scheduled to arrive this evening, police were deployed at markets and along main roads to stop violence, said Sikandar Hayat, a senior Islamabad police officer.
“Public transport is less than usual and small markets are open,” he said. “Thank God, there has been no untoward incident so far.”
The Islamic coalition, Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal or United Action Forum, has called the strike to condemn the cartoons, its latest protest against the drawings that have outraged the Muslim world since being reprinted in several newspapers, mostly in Western countries, in recent weeks.
The opposition alliance has also used the protests to rail against the United States and demand that President General Pervez Musharraf step down.
Some protests have turned deadly and at least five people have died in Peshawar and the eastern city of Lahore in rioting.
In Lahore today, about 15,000 police and hundreds of paramilitary troops were deployed, city police chief Khawaja Khalid Farooq said. Most shops and markets were closed, he said.
Supporters of Shabab-e-Milli, a youth organisation linked with Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan’s largest Islamic group and a key member of the religious alliance, rallied through Peshawar.
Rallies were also planned in the south-western city of Quetta after midday prayers but “no violence will be allowed,” said Abdul Wahid Qazi, a senior Quetta police official.
In the southern port city of Karachi, Pakistan’s main port and commercial hub where a terrorist bomb outside the US consulate yesterday killed four people, most public transport was off the roads and many businesses were closed, said Niaz Siddiqui.
At least two rallies were planned for later today, he said.
