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JI launches protest week
The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) NWFP on Saturday launched its "protest week" against military operations in Bajaur and other tribal areas. In this connection, a protest demonstration was held in Peshawar which was led by the party's provincial chief Sirajul Haq. Similar protest rallies and demonstrations were held on divisional level throughout the province. Scores of JI activists, carrying banners and placards inscribed with anti-America slogans, gathered in front of Peshawar Press Club (PPC) to mark the first day of their protest week. They were chanting slogans against America and asked the government to put an end to military operations in Bajaur and Swat as well as stop US forces from violating Pakistani borders. Addressing the protestors, Sirajul Haq said two operations were conducted in Bajaur during Musharraf era in which a total of 100 civilians were killed. However, the tally of civilian casualties reached 625 in the agency during the first eight months of the present government. Siraj said the present elected government was busy accomplishing the unfinished agenda of the Musharraf regime by using the military and arms against its own people to appease the United States. Lashing out at the Awami National Party (ANP) government in NWFP, Siraj said it had lost the writ in many areas and people were feeling themselves unsafe even inside their houses. He said the NWFP government was restricted to the Governor's House and Chief Minister's House while the ministers and other high-ups could not dare to come out of well-guarded houses and see the pathetic condition of the people who pushed them to the corridor of power. Posted by: Fred 2008-09-21 |
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