Pakistanis protest school attack

KHAR – Over 15 000 armed Pakistani tribesmen protested yesterday against a Pakistan Army helicopter attack on an al Qaeda-linked madrasa in Bajaur tribal region that killed around 80 suspected militants.

Chants of ‘Down with America’ and ‘Down with Musharraf’ rang out as the tribesmen gathered in Khar, the main town in the tribal region close to the Afghan border in protest against Pakistan’s deadliest air strike. “Our jihad (holy war) will continue and Inshallah (God willing) people will go to Afghanistan to oust American and British forces,” Maulana Faqir Mohammad, a pro-Taliban cleric told the crowd of turbaned tribals, many carrying Kalashnikovs and wearing bandoliers, and a few shouldering rocket launchers.While the government claimed the madrasa was being used to train militants, protesters say the dead, mostly young men aged between 15 and 25, were merely students.Nowhere is President Pervez Musharraf’s alliance with the United States in a war on terrorism more unpopular than in the Pashtun tribal belt straddling the Pakistan-Afghan border.A mountainous region that is difficult to access, Bajaur lies opposite Afghanistan’s eastern province of Kunar, where US troops are hunting al Qaeda and Taliban militants.Along with North and South Waziristan, Bajaur is regarded as a hotbed of support for the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.Nampa-Reuters”Our jihad (holy war) will continue and Inshallah (God willing) people will go to Afghanistan to oust American and British forces,” Maulana Faqir Mohammad, a pro-Taliban cleric told the crowd of turbaned tribals, many carrying Kalashnikovs and wearing bandoliers, and a few shouldering rocket launchers.While the government claimed the madrasa was being used to train militants, protesters say the dead, mostly young men aged between 15 and 25, were merely students.Nowhere is President Pervez Musharraf’s alliance with the United States in a war on terrorism more unpopular than in the Pashtun tribal belt straddling the Pakistan-Afghan border.A mountainous region that is difficult to access, Bajaur lies opposite Afghanistan’s eastern province of Kunar, where US troops are hunting al Qaeda and Taliban militants.Along with North and South Waziristan, Bajaur is regarded as a hotbed of support for the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.Nampa-Reuters