Swat District: Thousands March In favor Of Islamic Shari’a

Thousands of people have staged a protest rally in favor of the Taliban’s enforcement of Islamic Shari’a in the Swat district of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP), according to a report in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Express.

The protesters, hailing from different parts of the district, gathered in Bari Kot village on Wednesday.

According to the report, the protesters threatened to march on Islamabad if Islamic shari’a was not implemented in the Swat district within three days.

Chanting slogans against the military operations and the deaths of civilians, the protesters demanded that the government lift the curfew on the district.

It is believed that more than 15,000 people took part in the protest.

This is the second such pro-Taliban protest in two days. On Tuesday, protests were held in Peshawar and Swat district opposing the Pakistani security forces’ operation against the Taliban.

In the image below, people protest against the Pakistani security forces in Bari Kot village on Wednesday.

Source: Roznama Express, Pakistan, February 12, 2009

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