Pakistani Protesters Clash With Police
By AFZAL NADEEM
Associated Press Writer
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) _ Hundreds of followers of radical Pakistani Islamic groups clashed with police in this southern port city on Friday, the Muslim holy day, throwing stones and setting an American fast food restaurant on fire, authorities said.
The restaurant was licensed to KFC, a U.S.-based company. Witnesses said the restaurant had covered its sign and logo this week in anticipation of anti-American reaction.
The fire did not do serious damage and no injuries were reported. Demonstrators moved on to burn two public buses, three cars and two motorcycles.
In the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, which expected protests Friday, police said they quickly deployed officers to the local KFC.
Leaders of major Islamic political parties called nationwide demonstrations for Friday and a nationwide strike for Monday to protest U.S.-led military strikes in neighboring Afghanistan _ and Pakistan's supportive role in the American effort to eradicate terrorism installations linked to Osama bin Laden.
Scattered protests and violence, some whipped up by leaders of major Islamic parties in Pakistan, have taken place in some cities this week since the strikes began Sunday. Friday, the main Muslim prayer day, has become a frequent day of trouble.
But the government says things are under control, and President Gen. Pervez Musharraf insists most Pakistanis support his decision to help the United States.
Nonetheless, his government said Friday it would deal firmly with anyone who protests violently or acts against Pakistan's national interest.
"There are only a few extremist elements who tried to disrupt law and order, but we have given instructions to the law-enforcement agencies not to allow anybody to take law in their hands," Musharraf's spokesman, Maj. Gen. Rashid Quereshi, said Friday morning.
"We will ensure the protection of life and property of the people," he said in Islamabad as the Karachi protests unfolded.
Meanwhile Friday, police and paramilitary forces patrolled streets in Quetta and Peshawar, home to most Afghan refugees in Pakistan and near the Afghanistan border.
In Peshawar, armored personnel carriers parked on corners and heavily armed soldiers lined the streets and hunkered down in sandbag bunkers. But when several thousand protesters demonstrated early Friday afternoon, everything stayed peaceful.
Young men screaming "jihad is our way" were signing up to fight in Afghanistan in support of its rigidly Islamic Taliban. Outside the Madni Mosque, as loudspeakers atop its minarets issued the call to prayer, young men handed money to a bearded man with a sign: "Give to jihad. Down with America and Long live Osama."
In Quetta, mullahs largely avoided anti-American sentiment Friday as at least 1,000 heavily armed riot police guarded the city, according to the deputy police commander, Hammayoon Jogezai. Much of the unrest this week has been in or near Quetta, in Pakistan's southwest.
Near Chaman, in an area heavily influenced by Afghanistan's Taliban, guards from Pakistan's border militia dug trenches along the border with Afghanistan on Friday and set up new lines of barbed wire. New barbed-wire fences could also be seen along the frontier.
In Pakistan's mountainous southern city of Jacobabad, soldiers and police patrolled streets and residential rooftops, tightening security near an air base that government officials and witnesses say is being used by American personnel.
Authorities stopped and questioned drivers along main roads, and police were stationed every half mile. Roads leading to Jacobabad air base, which residents say was ringed with barbed wire a week ago, were blocked.
Military intelligence sources who insisted on anonymity said they were worried about attacks by groups that support Afghanistan's ruling Taliban.
Pakistani officials confirmed Thursday on condition of anonymity that the country has allowed U.S. military aircraft to land inside its borders and has granted the United States use of at least two air bases during air strikes inside Afghanistan.
The officials emphasized that the Americans were not ground forces and did not characterize them as U.S. military personnel. Government spokesman Anwar Mehmood said Pakistan would not allow its territory to be used for launching any attack on Afghanistan.
The issue is extremely controversial in this Muslim country of 145 million people, and the government issued a formal denial Thursday that "U.S. armed services personnel and aircraft" were in Pakistan.
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