THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Pakistan is braced for a wave of anti-American protests today(FRI) as the leading mainstream Islamist party called for its supporters to take to the streets after Friday prayers.Resentment towards Islamabad and its support for the US war on terror is already simmering and yesterday the Jamaat-e-Islam — until recently a member of the governing coalition — said the US had violated its sovereignty by sending special forces into Abbottabad to kill Osama bin Laden.
“Even if there was any sympathy for the Americans, that would dissipate after the way they crushed and violated our sovereignty and our independence,” said Syed Munawar Hasan, the JI president.
“We have appealed to everyone to hold peaceful demonstrations on Friday on a very large scale. Our first demand is Pakistan ... should withdraw from the war on terror.” Extremists linked to the group behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks have already offered public prayers for bin Laden. Several hundred members of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), a Pakistani charity on the US terror blacklist over its alleged connection to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group blamed for the Mumbai attack, gathered in Karachi earlier this week to declare the al Qaeda leader a martyr.
Anti-American feeling is commonplace in Pakistan, despite repeated attempts to win hearts and mind with billions of dollars in US aid. » | Thursday, May 05, 2011
