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Summary Thousands of people Tuesday held protest rally in Karachi like elsewhere, lashing out at the US.
Hundreds of protesters from the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) held a rally outside the US consulate general in the port city of Karachi to condemn US threats.The protesters arrived in trucks, buses and motorbikes and broke through security cordons to reach the consulate in a well-guarded southern neighbourhood.Carrying Pakistani flags, placards and banners inscribed with slogans condemning the US, the protestors shouted: Well sacrifice our lives to save Pakistan and Death to America.We warn US not to indulge in any misadventure with us, or the whole nation will stand united to defend our country, said Zafar Baloch, a local party leader while addressing the protestors.The protesters also burnt US flags before dispersing peacefully, said local police official Abdul Hakeem.In other protests, hundreds of tribesmen in Landikotal, a town on the northwest border with Afghanistan, threatened the United States with holy war.Mobilised by Jamaat-e-Islami, the protestors waved party flags and wore ribbons inscribed with slogans and dozens of tribesmen armed with assault rifles joined the throng.We announce the holy war against America if they attack Pakistan, Siraj-Ul-Haq, the partys deputy head, told the gathering.The whole nation will wage a jihad against America and will fight against them shoulder to shoulder with Pakistani armed forces, Haq added.The Haqqani group was founded by former CIA asset turned Al-Qaeda ally Jalaluddin Haqqani, who was close to Pakistan and the US spy agency during the 1980s anti-Soviet resistance, and its leaders are reportedly based in North Waziristan.Today the United States depends on Pakistan, largely for shipping the bulk of its supplies to the 140,000 US-led foreign troops in landlocked Afghanistan, but also to counter the threat from militants in the border areas.There is growing unease in Pakistan about US pressure to take on the Haqqani network or face the consequences, with the military saying it is too over-stretched fighting local Taliban to open a new front against a US enemy.Having accused the network of orchestrating recent attacks on its embassy in Kabul and a NATO base in Afghanistan, with Pakistani intelligence involvement, Washington now says it is considering branding the network a terror group.Any such move could complicate future efforts to negotiate a settlement in Afghanistan and, given US claims about government ties to the network, risk Pakistan being branded a state sponsor of terror, local analysts warned.
