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Prayer services call for war, stir violence
Across Muslim world, law officers confront Taliban supporters
10/13/2001
PESHAWAR, Pakistan – The Muslim world erupted in violent protest after
Islamic clerics used Friday prayer services to call for holy war against the
United States because of its bombing campaign against Afghanistan.
Some of the protests in Asia and the Middle East led to clashes between
demonstrators and police, but others, such as marches in this northern Pakistani
city near the Afghan border, were far more sedate than in previous weeks. Nevertheless, police in the cities of Karachi and Rawalpindi fired tear gas
after protests turned violent. Demonstrators burned President Bush in effigy,
along with the American flag and another stuffed dummy labeled "CNN." Thousands also protested in Malaysia, Indonesia, Kenya, Turkey, Bangladesh,
India, Iran, Sri Lanka, and the war-divided, predominantly Muslim Indian state
of Jammu-Kashmir. In Peshawar, police in riot gear and army troops wearing combat helmets were
on the streets in droves, having warned protesters that a harsh crackdown would
follow any disorderly conduct. Afghan refugees, who make up a large percentage
of Peshawar's population, were threatened with deportation to their home country
if they repeated the kinds of looting and violence that followed Friday prayers
last week. The protests might also have been muted by a Pentagon decision not to conduct
bombing raids Friday in deference to the Islamic holy day. Bombing ended before
dawn Friday after 36 straight hours of attacks that were described by Afghan
officials as the most intense since the United States and Britain began their
aerial bombardment campaign on Sunday. By early Saturday, however, the bombing resumed as several planes flew over
Kabul and large explosions were heard in the northern areas, rattling buildings
in the heart of the capital. Muslims were visibly agitated after nearly a week of bombings that, according
to Afghanistan's Taliban leadership, have killed at least 200 people. At times,
the protests turned almost festive as demonstrators played to television cameras
while hoisting posters of Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the
Sept. 11 attacks. Some placards carried messages in English, apparently designed to win
attention from the hordes of Western journalists at the marches. Street vendors
hawked bin Laden T-shirts, also printed in English with slogans such as "Jihad
[holy war] is our mission." "We support Osama. He is a fighter who only wants justice for Islam," said
Muhammad Aslam, 16, an Afghan participant in the protests. "I am ready at any
time to die for his jihad." Muslim clerics took a far more serious tone in their remarks, reacting to
video footage from Afghan hospitals showing children purportedly injured in the
attacks. U.S. defense officials have insisted they are doing everything possible
to avoid attacking civilian locations. British officials also disputed the Taliban casualty figures. "It's widely
understood among Afghanistan refugees that there have not been so many civilian
casualties," Britain's international development secretary, Clare Short, told
reporters in London. "They are bombing peaceful civilians. We've told the [Pakistani] government
that you are so generous with the American government, and then they come here
to kill Muslims," said the chief Muslim cleric of Peshawar, Mufti Hassan Jan,
after Friday prayers. Speaking in Pashtu, the language of most of the Afghan refugees in Peshawar,
the mufti called on the government to rescind its decision this week to permit
U.S. Air Force access to two southern bases. The government insists the bases
are for rescue and relief operations only. Apparently mindful of the Pakistan military's threat to use force to quell
any violence, Mufti Jan told a crowd of thousands in Peshawar's Sadr Square, "It
is our right to protest. ... But we are here to protest peacefully. Those who
loot and destroy are not with us." As he spoke, members of the Hezbul Tahreer (Party of Liberation) movement
distributed leaflets charging that the "true aim" of the United States is not to
wipe out terrorism but rather to dominate the Muslim world. "A war against Afghanistan is a war against all of Islam," the leaflet said,
calling not only for holy war against Americans but also against "corrupt Muslim
rulers who give them access to our bases." Not all residents agreed with the protesters. Muhammad Nazir, an engineer who
left the Afghan capital of Kabul a year ago, said he fully supports the U.S.
bombing campaign as long as civilian casualties are avoided. "They are perpetuating cruelty against all the Afghan people. That is
terrorism," he said of the Taliban leadership. "They've done nothing to rebuild
the country's infrastructure. They've done nothing to create jobs. All they care
about is that everyone grows a big beard."