Thousands of Islamist protesters vented their fury at Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf at mass rallies yesterday, some vowing to "destroy" him to avenge this week's deadly raid on the Red Mosque.
The US-backed military ruler fueled Islamist anger with this week's army assault on the pro-Taliban mosque complex in Islamabad that left 86 dead in a fierce 36-hour battle.
In the capital, hundreds called for holy war and chanted "Musharraf is a killer" and "Glory be to the Red Mosque martyrs" at a rally organized by Pakistan's main alliance of radical parties, the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal.
PHOTO: AP
"This carnage will prove to be the last nail in the coffin of Musharraf's dictatorial rule in Pakistan," the group's deputy leader Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Hydri told the gathering. "Now there will be Red Mosques everywhere in Pakistan."
The protest was one of scores across the world's second-largest Islamic nation which were called on the traditional Muslim day of prayer to condemn the military raid that turned Islamabad into a war zone this week.
The attack on the mosque and its all-female Islamic school ended a months-long standoff in which hardline vigilantes raided video shops and beauty parlors and abducted six Chinese women they accused of being prostitutes.
Pakistan, on high alert for the possibility of revenge attacks, boosted security yesterday, deploying tens of thousands of police and troops, after al-Qaeda urged Pakistanis to rise up against the US-backed government.
Two suicide blasts killed eight people on Thursday, and police yesterday said they seized three men and a car packed with seven suicide vests, 100 mortar shells and other explosives in northwestern Dera Ismail Khan town.
In the Islamist heartland city of Peshawar, near the Afghan border, some 2,000 people shook their fists and chanted "Destroy Musharraf" when a top cleric asked them to follow the lead of rebel leader Abdul Rashid Ghazi.
Ghazi died in a hail of bullets in the Red Mosque on Tuesday.
In Lahore, 20,000 men, women and children yesterday also offered prayers for the victims of the army raid in a meeting at a mosque run by a hardline Islamist group blacklisted by the US as a terrorist organization.
ANNOUNCEMENT: People who do not comply with the ban after a spoken warning would be reported to the police, the airport company said on Friday Taoyuan International Airport Corp on Friday announced that riding on vehicles, including scooter-suitcases (also known as “scootcases”), bicycles, scooters and skateboards, is prohibited in the airport’s terminals. Those using such vehicles should manually pull them or place them on luggage trolleys, the company said in a Facebook post. The ban intends to maintain order and protect travelers’ safety, as the airport often sees large crowds of people, it said, adding that it has stepped up publicity for the regulation, and those who do not comply after a spoken warning would be reported to the police. The company yesterday said that
QUIET START: Nearly a week after applications opened, agencies did not announce or promote the program, nor did they explain how it differed from other visitor visas Taiwan has launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program for foreign nationals from its list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts. To apply, foreign nationals must either provide proof that they have obtained a digital nomad visa issued by another country or demonstrate earnings based on age brackets, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said. Applicants aged 20 to 29 must show they earned an annual salary of at least US$20,000 or its equivalent in one of the past two years, while those aged 30 or older must provide proof they earned US$40,000 in
UNITY MESSAGE: Rather than focusing on what Trump said on the campaign trail about Taiwan, Taipei should be willing to engage with the US, Pompeo said Taiwan plays a key role in Washington’s model of deterrence against China, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said in a speech in Taipei yesterday. During US president-elect Donald Trump’s first term, “we had developed what we believe was a pretty effective model of deterrence against adversaries who wanted to undermine the set of rules and values that the people of Taiwan and the people of the US hold dear,” Pompeo said at a forum organized by the Formosa Republican Association. “Succeeding in continuing to build this model will not solely rest at the feet of president Trump and his team,
TECH CORRIDOR: Technology centers and science parks in the south would be linked, bolstering the AI, semiconductor, biotech, drone, space and smart agriculture industries The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a “Southern Silicon Valley” project to promote the development of an artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor industry in Chiayi County, Tainan, Pingtung County and Kaohsiung. The plan would build an integrated “S-shaped semiconductor industry corridor” that links technology centers and science parks in the south, Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said yesterday after a Cabinet meeting. The project would bolster the AI, semiconductor, biotech, drone, space and smart agriculture industries, she said. The proposed tech corridor would be supported by government efforts to furnish computing power, workforce, supply chains and policy measures that encourage application and integration
RSS