Pakistan: popular protests erupt after madrassa attack
Yesterday's bombings of a Koranic school in the north-west of the country sparked protests by tribal leaders and the political opposition. They are convinced 80 innocents were killed and that Islamabad was engineered by Washington. The Pakistani government has countered by claiming militant terrorists were killed.
Islamabad (AsiaNews/Agencies) Thousands of tribesmen, traders and armed militants gathered today in cities across Pakistan to protest against the government and United States because of a missile attack on a madrassa (Koranic school), suspected to be an al-Qaeda training centre. Eighty people were killed in the attack. The Islamabad government said the victims were all terrorist militants but tribal leaders and the political opposition claimed they were innocent students and teachers.
Around 2,000 people protested in Khar, the main city of the north-western district of Najur, around 10km from the village of Chingai on which Pakistani helicopters yesterday dropped five missiles, destroying a madrassa. From the highlands, Pashtun-speaking leaders described the attack as one engineered by the United States. Protesters chanted "Death to Musharraf! Death to Bush!" Other protests are under way across the country from Peshawar in the north to Karachi in the south.
Three funerals took place one after another in a field near the stricken school, where the remains of at least 50 people were laid on wooden mats in a row next to each other, covered with coloured sheets.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, leader of Muttaheda Majlis Amal (MMA, a six-party Muslim alliance in opposition) said yesterday's attack was "conducted by the USA and Pakistan is taking responsibility because they know there would be a civil war if the truth was known." The armies of both Pakistan and the US have denied this.
The raid against the madrassa claimed the highest ever death toll of any military operation in Pakistan. Among those killed was Liaquat Hussain, a Muslim cleric believed to be associated with al-Zawahri, the deputy of bin Laden. An army spokesman said the raid was launched after Hussain ignored government warnings to stop his activities.
The missiles that bombed the school in Chingai put paid to efforts of President Pervez Musharraf to convince regional tribal leaders to back his government, distancing them from the influence of the Taleban and al-Qaeda. The planned signing of a peace deal between tribal leaders and the army was scrapped yesterday in response to the raid.
Under strong international pressure, Musharraf had ordered the registration of all Koranic schools by the end of 2005 and the expulsion of all foreign students. Muslim clerics are however contrary to this because they do not want to lose their monopoly over education. The exact number of madrassas in Pakistan is not known: approximate estimates range between 10,000 and 13,000. Recently local media calculated 16,000. Madrassas are financed by rich Muslim individuals and by Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia.
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