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Swat District: Pro-Taliban Protest Demonstration
A protest demonstration has been held against the Pakistani military operation and in favor of the Taliban’s enforcement of Islamic Shari’a in the Swat district of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, according to a report in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Mashriq.
The pro-Taliban protest was organized by a local non-governmental organization called the International Human Rights Commission. Many local people and the Taliban participated in the protest.
Addressing the protesters, Raja Liaqat Ali, the Chairman of the International Human Rights Commission, asked the Pakistani government to withdraw security forces and enforce Islamic Shari’a in the Swat district immediately.
Ali added that Swat’s civilian population is being targeted in the military operation. He reminded that the Pakistani government had pledged to enforce Islamic Shari’a in a deal with Islamist leader Maulana Sufi Muhammad, whose son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah heads the Taliban in Swat.
The protest was also addressed by Khwaja Muhammad Khan Hoti, who resigned as Pakistan’s federal minister recently.
Protest in Peshawar: Stop the military operation
Meanwhile, hundreds of students of universities and colleges took out protest rallies and demonstrations in Peshawar to press the government to immediately halt the military operation in tribal areas and Swat valley, according to a report in The Post newspaper.
The students from the University of Peshawar, Agricultural University, the Engineering University, and other city colleges took part in the protest rallies.
The protesters were carrying placards and banners inscribed with slogans against the U.S. and the Pakistani government.
Sources: Roznama Mashriq, Pakistan, February 11, 2009; The Post, Pakistan, February 11, 2009
Posted at: 2009-02-11
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