Friday November 9 6:08 AM ET

Three Killed in Crackdown on Pakistan Protesters

By Asim Tanveer

SARGODHA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani police killed three people Friday when they opened fire on pro-Taliban protesters in a nationwide crackdown on a general strike called by Islamic parties against government support for the war on Afghanistan.

Police said they baton-charged and lobbed tear gas at more than 1,000 protesters blocking a train at Shadan Lund railway station, 90 miles from the central Punjab city of Multan, before opening fire.

Dr. Khalil ur Rehman Lund at the Rural Health Center in Shadan Lund said three people died of bullet wounds and four were wounded. Police said they had detained 22 protesters.

``The people have dispersed but there is still tension in the area as people are very angry,'' Lund said. Local officials earlier said 4,000 people had gathered to block the train.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, a pivotal ally of the United States in its attacks on Afghanistan, police fired tear gas and warning shots to scatter anti-government protesters.

Roads were almost deserted and shops shuttered, but because the government also declared Friday a national holiday to mark the birthday of Pakistan's national poet, Allama Iqbal, it was difficult to gauge the extent of the strike. Around 100 protesters who were blocking a national highway near Sibi, some 60 miles southeast of Quetta in Baluchistan province, were detained, police said. Police fired into the air and used teargas and baton charges to disperse the crowd.

Police also fired teargas at protesters in the cities of Karachi and Rawalpindi and in the northwestern city of Peshawar, gateway to the Khyber Pass and Afghanistan.

About 100 Taliban supporters, chanting ``Osama will rule'' and ``Taliban, Taliban'' marched through the bazaars of Peshawar, shutting down shops, witnesses said.

PRO-TALIBAN PARTIES VOW TO BRING COUNTRY TO A HALT

Pakistan's Islamic parties have vowed to bring the country to a halt in a pro-Taliban show of force, despite a government crackdown against their leaders, two of whom were detained this week.

The shutdown of bazaars and transport called by the 35-party Afghanistan Defense Council is in protest against the Pakistani government's support of the U.S. raids targeting the Taliban and their guest Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was due to arrive in the United States Friday after a visit to Europe.

``Innocent people are being killed in Afghanistan and Musharraf is going to make more agreements with America,'' Maulana Samiul Haq, head of the council and leader of his own faction of the hard-line Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam party, told a rally of a few hundred supporters in Peshawar.

``Your (Musharraf's) policies are against the interests of Pakistan...The United States has occupied Pakistan,'' said Haq, his speech punctuated by shouts of ``Death to America'' from the crowd.

Pakistani air space is the main route for U.S. bombing raids, but many Pakistanis oppose the bombing, and Musharraf has urged a pause in the attacks during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which starts next week.

The streets of the southwestern city of Quetta near the Afghan border were deserted, in contrast to the usual traffic chaos. Most vehicles on the road were pick-ups laden with armed police and militia, witnesses said.

Police had set up machine gun posts on top of houses at major intersections, and prevented protesters from gathering after Friday prayers.

In Lahore, capital of populous Punjab province, streets were empty and almost all markets were closed, though there were no reports of any protests or demonstrations.

In a pre-emptive strike, police detained more than 100 members of the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami party and the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam party, party members said.

Musharraf is walking a political tightrope by supporting Washington against the Taliban. Islamic groups accuse the United States of using bin Laden as an excuse to attack Muslims.

Musharraf said in Paris Thursday he would try to persuade President Bush in their meeting Saturday to suspend the bombing of Afghanistan during Ramadan.

-- Anonymous, November 09, 2001