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Asia Boils with Anger over U.S. Strikes on Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD, Oct 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Numerous Asian countries reacted angrily Monday to the U.S.-British air strikes on Afghanistan, with thousands of Pakistani, Kashmiri, Malaysian, Indonesian and South Korean protesters taking to the streets, news agencies reported.
Sunday's U.S.-British air and missile strikes on war-ravaged Afghanistan, whose people make up the largest population of refugees in the world, sparked a wave of anti-U.S. protests in the Pakistani cities of Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Lahore, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
In Peshawar, several thousand students pulled down signboards, burned tires and shouted slogans against the United States and in support of Afghanistan.
In Rawalpindi, around 500 protesters shouted slogans against U.S. President George W. Bush.
Police in the western Pakistani city of Quetta fired tear gas Monday at more than 10,000 demonstrators protesting the U.S.-British strikes in Afghanistan, AFP reported.
The demonstrations started after the chief clerics of several mosques in Quetta reacted to the forceful American-British raids on Afghanistan Sunday night, by announcing over their public address systems that jihad [struggle] was now "mandatory" for Pakistani Muslims.
Students and Islamic groups in Quetta staged at least three separate demonstrations.
Demonstrators marched towards Quetta's luxury Serena Hotel - base for several hundred foreign journalists - to voice their anti-U.S. sentiment, as police fired up to 20 tear gas shells to keep the crowds away, said AFP.
Makeshift barbed-wire fencing was hastily erected across access roads to the hotel.
In an attempt to ward off the student demonstrations, Quetta authorities late Sunday closed the city's schools, colleges and universities for three days.
Anti-U.S. demonstrations also broke out in Indian-occupied Muslim-majority Kashmir, with people pouring into the streets of the capital, Srinagar, stoning taxis and chanting slogans against the United States.
In the downtown areas of the city, groups of mainly young protesters forced shops to pull down their shutters as they stoned taxis and other public vehicles.
The spontaneous protests broke out in at least five different areas of the town, including Jania Masjid, Saidakadal and Nawab Bazar, said AFP.
Around 200 students, including women, participated in a peaceful protest on the campus of Kashmir University amid tight security.
The demonstrators chanted "Long Live Islam", "Down with America", "Long Live Taliban" and "Long Live Osama" as police and paramilitary forces were deployed in trouble spots, AFP reported.
Meanwhile, Malaysia criticized the U.S.-British strikes in Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said his government did not support the attacks because innocent people would be killed and terrorism would not be wiped out.
"Our stand is that the problems that caused these terrorists to do what they did have to be looked into," AFP quoted him as telling reporters outside parliament.
"We will not take any action or give any form of support," to the U.S., he added.
In a statement to parliament earlier, Mahathir said, "War will only victimize the innocent. Terrorists themselves might escape.
"That is why Malaysia does not agree with war against countries that are said to be protecting terrorists. It will only ruin the said country without succeeding in eradicating terrorism or terrorists."
Mahathir has consistently condemned the September 11 terror attacks on the U.S., but has stressed the need to address the fundamental causes of terrorism such as the "oppression" of Muslims in the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Chechnya.
Fadzil Noor, president of the opposition group, Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), said the attacks were not only against Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, but were a direct assault on Muslims.
"America attacked a small and defenseless country like Afghanistan without showing the world strong reason or proof; they are war criminals," he told AFP.
"If the U.S. are really waging a war against terrorism, why don't they attack Israel, who are terrorists against the Palestinians?" asked Noor.
"This proves they are not fighting terrorism, they are fighting the Taliban who are Muslims," he said.
When asked about renewed calls for jihad, or struggle, following the attacks, Fadzil said, "all Muslims must oppose these criminals - this time, there is no denying a call for
jihad."
However, the opposition leader declined to elaborate, saying that all his party could do at the moment was condemn the attacks.
"If we hold anti-war demonstrations now, the government who is supporting the U.S. will attack us," he said.
Islam is Malaysia's official religion and Muslims make up about 60% of the population of some 23 million, with significant Chinese and Indian minorities.
In Indonesia - the world's largest Muslim-populated country - Ahmad Syafii Ma'arif, the chairman of Indonesia's second largest Islamic Movement - the Muhammadiyah, condemned the U.S. attack as "state terrorism".
"I do not agree with terrorism, but I also do not agree with state terrorism," Ma'arif said, quoted by AFP.
"The attack was a very unwise move that will carry extraordinary implications on the world," he added.
Syaifuddin Muftoh, the chairman of Indonesia's Hizbullah (the party of God), said the attacks reflected "the arrogance of the United States."
"We will try to aid the [Afghan] mujahideen [soldiers] by sending our fighters in coordination with the other groups," Muftoh said, quoted by AFP.
"This is no longer a time for mere protest demonstrations," he added.
Muftoh said Indonesia's Hizbullah had contacted several other groups, including Indonesia's Islamic Youth Movement and Laskar Jihad.
Indonesia's Front for the Defenders of Islam urged Jakarta to sever diplomatic ties with Washington and its allies and expel their citizens.
"They are terrorists who should be expelled from the soil of Indonesia," said its chairman, Habib Muhammed Riziq Shihab, as quoted by AFP.
Laskar Jihad leader Ja'far Umar Thalib said the United States had declared its enmity for Muslims "and this position will endanger the United States very much."
In an interview with Metro TV, he urged those who could do so to go and fight in Afghanistan to help their refugee Muslim brethren against a fierce attack by the most powerful country in the world.
"Those who are not able to do that should express this enmity against the United States and its allies in whatever form they can," he said without elaborating.
The strikes were ordered by President George W. Bush as the first military action in his "war on terrorism" following the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
He has named Saudi-born dissident billionaire Osama bin Laden, allegedly sheltered in Afghanistan, as the prime suspect - though bin Laden has "categorically" denied the accusation against him.
Bush has said bin Laden is wanted "dead or alive" and starkly warned the world to choose sides.
In a message broadcast Sunday by Qatar's Al-Jazeera satellite channel, Osama bin Laden said, "Every Muslim must rise to defend his religion. The winds of faith, the winds of change have blown to sweep away evil from Mohammad's Peninsula.
"To America, I have only a few words to say: I swear by God that America and those who live in America won't dream of having security before we have it in Palestine and all infidel armies depart from the land of Mohammad."
Meanwhile, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman issued a statement expressing concern at the attacks on Afghanistan, which he described as "unacceptable", BBC's online news service reported.
He said the U.S. attacks were being carried out without regard to world public opinion, especially in the Muslim countries, and that innocent people would be victims.
He also warned the United States that it should avoid violating Iran's air space and territorial integrity.
Iranian leaders are clearly suspicious of American strategic intentions in the region, according to BBC.
They had earlier made it clear that they would condemn any campaign that led to heavy civilian casualties and waves of refugees.
Iran is already home to more than two million Afghans, most of whom sought refuge there during the Russian invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.
Fear, anxiety and hope are the emotions those Afghan refugees are now feeling as they watch the most powerful nations in the world moving into action against their already battered and impoverished country.
Many express concern for friends and family still inside Afghanistan.
Many of them are outraged by this latest infliction on a country which had already been completely destroyed, said BBC.
Meanwhile, in Seoul, South Korean activists on Monday staged a demonstration opposing the U.S.-British strikes in Afghanistan, AFP reported.
Hundreds of riot police formed human barricades with shields and truncheons to stop large crowds of protestors from coming near the main gate of U.S. military headquarters in central Seoul.
Protestor from South Korean labor, religious and civic groups shouted: "We oppose U.S. reprisal attack!"
They also urged President Kim Dae-Jung to stop supporting U.S. President George W. Bush, insisting the U.S. attack would threaten peace in the Middle East.
"Stop supporting Bush's war," read one placard.
Security was tight around the sprawling base, with armed U.S. soldiers on alert. The U.S. embassy and other American facilities also received special protection.
South Korean political groups have demanded the withdrawal of 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea under a mutual defense pact.
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