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Assaulted U.K. Reporter Says: "I Would Have Attacked Me Too"
LONDON, Dec. 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Robert Fisk, a correspondent for the London-based daily newspaper,
The Independent, and a sharp critic of the United States, fell victim to U.S. policies when he was attacked by a mob of Afghan refugees in the border city of Quetta and Charnan.
Fisk, 55, was assaulted when his car broke down on the road between the two cities. He suffered head, face and hand injuries after being pelted with stones by a group of up to 100 people, BBC's online news service reported.
"I don't want this to be seen as a Muslim mob attacking a Westerner for no reason. They had every reason to be angry," said Fisk. "I've been an outspoken critic of the U.S. actions myself. If I had been them, I would have attacked me."
Fisk said he has worked in the Middle East for many years, described it as a "warzone". Sometimes "you just have to accept that these things happen," he said.
Fisk said he fought back and began lashing out at the mob, whose numbers swelled to about 100. He was rescued by a Muslim religious leader who forced the mob back and guided him to a police wagon. "Without his intervention I would now be dead," he said.
Fisk said he could understand the mob's anger.
"I later found out that the village housed lots of Afghan refugees whose relatives had been killed just last week in the American bombing of Kandahar," he said.
"It doesn't excuse them for beating me up so badly, but there was a real reason why they should hate Westerners so much," he added.
Recovering at his hotel in Quetta, the veteran journalist told the Press Association: "It was a very frightening experience and I am in a lot of pain but I am glad to be alive."
"I'm going to bear the scars for the rest of my life - sadly I broke down in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Fisk, The Independent's Middle East correspondent, had been traveling to Charnan when his car overheated and broke down close to a village housing refugees who had fled across the border from Afghanistan, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He got out of the vehicle and was attempting to push it to the side of the road when a group of 40 to 50 people gathered.
"At first they were reasonably friendly, but then a little kid threw a stone at me. More stones followed and then I fond myself being punched and beaten in the face. My glasses were smashed and my spare glasses were ripped away from me. I was covered in blood and couldn't see anything. I was obviously frightened."
Doctors from a Red Cross and Red Crescent convoy treated him and took him back to Quetta, reported
The Independent. In his hotel in Quetta two Pakistani doctors gave him further medical attention.
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