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Unrest in Pakistan as Musharraf Prepares Nationwide Address
ISLAMABAD, Sept 19 (News Agencies) - Opposition to Pakistan's support for any U.S. attack on Afghanistan gathered momentum Wednesday as President Pervez Musharraf prepared to address the nation.
Western embassies began sending family and non-essential staff out of the country in fear of widespread unrest from religious groups after Musharraf promised the Islamic state's "full cooperation" with the United States to hunt down Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's top mainstream religious body, the Pakistan Ulema Council, called for a
jihad [struggle] if Washington attacked Afghanistan, while thousands of seminary students marched through the streets of Peshawar and Karachi in support of the Saudi-born dissident.
"The Pakistan Ulema Council has called for a jihad against America and its allies if they attack Afghanistan. The attack will be an act of terrorism," the council said in a
fatwa sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"It is the duty of all the Muslims in the world to protect Muslim countries and Muslims, and the people of Pakistan and the
ulema [Islamic scholars] will not let America destroy the interests and identity of Pakistan and Afghanistan."
U.S. President George W. Bush has said bin Laden, who is hiding in Afghanistan under the protection of the ruling Taliban militia, is wanted "dead or alive" in connection with last week's terrorist onslaught in New York and Washington, in which some 6,000 people are feared dead.
Pakistan has been a close ally of the Taliban since the militia seized the Afghan capital Kabul in 1996.
But in the wake of the attacks in the United States, Musharraf sent a special delegation to tell the Taliban they would face terrible consequences unless they handed over bin Laden immediately.
"We only hope and pray that the Afghan leadership is ready to take the right decisions which are in the best interests of Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan," foreign ministry spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan told reporters Wednesday after the delegation's return home.
Musharraf has also been battling on the home front to keep pro-Taliban sentiment from boiling over into mass unrest.
He has met senior religious, political and civil leaders in a bid to explain Pakistan's position, and was due to make a televised address to the nation later Wednesday.
But the fatwa from the ulema council - the most important Islamic body in Pakistan, which includes senior clerics from all branches of the majority Sunni sect, indicated Musharraf had failed to win the support of the country's religious leaders.
"We warn President Musharraf to keep in mind the sentiments of the people of Pakistan before taking any action in support of America," the
ulema statement said.
It said Bush had made a serious mistake when he said the United States was launching a "crusade" against terrorism around the world.
"President Bush, by announcing a crusade, has fuelled the sentiments of the entire Muslim community. He should take his words back," it said, adding last week's attacks could have been the work of Israel's intelligence service.
The U.S. ambassador in Islamabad, Wendy Chamberlin, said Washington was fully aware of the delicate balance of forces in Pakistan.
"Let me just assure you that the United States stands by its friends," she said after a meeting with Pakistan's minister for refugees.
"You will find that we will stand by our friends who stand by us. We are currently talking about any number of ways to be responsive to Pakistan as they have been responsive to us."
Pakistan has made it clear that it expects its decision to back the United States to result in more financial aid and an easing of international sanctions imposed over its nuclear program.
In Peshawar, some 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the Afghan border, up to 3,000 men poured out of the Madni Mosque and seminary and burned an American flag after marching through the center of town.
Chanting slogans like "Long Live Osama", "Long Live Taliban" and "Friends of the U.S. are the enemies of Islam", the crowd from the pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam party demanded Musharraf re-think his support for the United States.
"Hundreds and thousands of our followers will defend Afghanistan and Pakistan against the U.S.," JUI leader Fazlur Rehman told AFP.
Closer to the border with Afghanistan, some 300 members of the, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) party brandished AK-47 assault rifles as they shouted, "America's army will find its grave in Pakistan and Afghanistan".
JUI and JI activists held similar demonstrations in the southern port of Karachi later in the day.
"If they kill Osama, there will be more to fill his place," said protestor Qari Usman.
Diplomats said Western embassies were pulling out non-essential staff and family members but stressed there was no emergency evacuation under way.
"The embassies are thinning their staff out now when it is not too bad so that it is easier if we have to evacuate later," a Western diplomat said.
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