Pakistan: “Death to America!”

In the northern Pakistan, serious disturbances among the local people are taking place. In the city of Quetta, near to Afghan border, thousands of people flooded the streets. The demonstrators are very aggressive, they are breaking shop windows, burning cars tires and rubbish, and throwing stones at the police. Shooting can be heard in the city and suburbs. The demonstrators are shouting "death to America!" The disturbances started just after the launching of the military action against Afghanistan by the US and Great Britain. The population's sympathies with the Taliban have been stirred up by religous organizations in Pakistan, such as the Defence Council of Afganistan and Markazi Jammat Ahl-e-Hadit Pakistan. The leaders of these organizations sharply criticize the US action and announced they regard the bombardments of Afghanistan as sufficient reason to declare jihad against the US. At the same time, one of the leaders of the most influential Islamic political party, Jammat-e-Islami, Manuvar Hassan called the strikes at Kabul “an attack on Islam," while stressing the Pakistani army did not agree with Musharraf. The Pakistani general himself continue to speak about Pakistan supporting US actions. Today, it became known about some changes in Pakistani government. According to analysts, Musharraf is getting rid of his supporters who helped him come to power in 1999 as a result of a military coup. Such an evolution must have been expected: there are too many pro-Taliban functionaries in the Pakistani government, so the general has to get rid of them all if he intends to launch a war. However, will he manage to rapidly put down opposition in the government and disturbances in population? On the other hand, it can not be discounted that the Pakistani army does not agree with its commander-in-chief.