Hindu Vivek Kendra
A RESOURCE CENTER FOR THE PROMOTION OF HINDUTVA
   
 
 
«« Back
'Kill Osama and every Muslim child will become an Osama'

'Kill Osama and every Muslim child will become an Osama'

Author:
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: October 13, 2001

On a podium in a disused cricket ground, a nine-year-old boy addressed a rally of about 20,000 men on the wrongs committed by the United States in neighbouring Afghanistan.

"We must unite," Kudratrullah Hafiz yelled through a microphone after a recital from the Quran. "America has interfered with Afghanistan, we must unite with Osama, Omar, and the Taliban."

"The United States looks at our madrassas with evil eyes, so we must gouge out their eyes - with our fingers," he urged the crowd of hardline Islamic activists. "Bush, listen. If you kill Osama then every Muslim child will become an Osama for America," he warned the US president.

Hafiz was one of a handful of children among a dozen men to speak at the largest rally seen in Pakistan since Washington began its reprisals last Sunday for the September 11 attacks.

The Taliban black and white battle flags and placards of Osama bin Laden were everywhere. Protestors swore allegiance to him, his Taliban protectors and the militia's leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

"Osama is Great", "America will Crash", "Afghanistan is Britain's graveyard", "Al-Qaeda is Good, Taliban is good, Washington is our target, Americans must die," were the chilling war cries.

Crowds began streaming into the ground shortly after Friday prayers. Police, paramilitary and army troops were deployed to ensure no repeat of the violence that wrecked Quetta.

The protest was organised by the Defence Council for Afghanistan and the Jamiat-Ulema-Islam (JUI). The JUI has become a rallying point for radical Muslims who remain a minority in Quetta.

The rally defied predictions and ended peacefully, but with a resolution warning Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to free all detained JUI members by October 14.

JUI claims about 500 militants have been arrested since Monday's violence. The detained include JUI leader Maulana Fazalur Rahman.

"These people are innocent. They have every right to protest and they are not miscreants. They just want to save our country," said JUI acting president Maulvi Abdul Ghani.

If Musharraf failed to meet the demand, the JUI would not be able to restrain its activists, Ghani warned.

"Musharraf is selling the blood of martyrs for a few dollars," he said. "He should be careful. If these martyrs rise and realise he has sold their blood, there will be a great humiliation for him in heaven or hell."

Violence broke out in Karachi today as agitators protesting the US strikes in Afghanistan clashed with police, pelted stones and torched United States-based fast-food outlet, Kentucky Fried Chicken.

AFP
 


Back                          Top

«« Back
 
 
 
  Search Articles
 
  Special Annoucements