Holy Quran desecration: 12 killed in Afghanistan as protests spread to Pakistan
Foreign ministry condemns incident.
KABUL/ISLAMABAD/KARACHI:
Twelve people were killed on Friday in the bloodiest day yet in protests that have raged across Afghanistan while hundreds of activists also took to the streets in Pakistan demanding leaders to resign over the desecration of copies of the Holy Quran at a Nato military base.
Up to 300 people blocked the main Grand Trunk road in Peshawar, stomped on and set fire to US flags, and kicked and beat the dummy representing America with sticks while it was burning. “The ugly face of America has been revealed with the desecration of the Holy Quran,” a banner read.
In Islamabad, the general secretary of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) told the crowd that the Islamic world should review its relations with US.
In Karachi, hundreds of activists of the banned outfit Jamaatud Dawachanted “Death to America”.
The demonstrators held up banners, one of which said: “The defeated Americans are bound to bite dust in their war against Allah and His Book.”
“We don’t accept Obama’s apology. The Muslims don’t accept his apology, as it is nothing but a farce,” said Naveed Qamar, the head of JuD in Karachi.
Foreign ministry condemnation
The foreign ministry strongly condemned the burning, stressing that the “utterly irresponsible and reprehensible things” do not happen again. “On behalf of the government and the people of Pakistan, we condemn in strongest possible terms the desecration of Holy Quran in Afghanistan,” foreign ministry spokesperson Abdul Basit told reporters.
US President Barack Obama apologised for the incident on Thursday, which the Afghan presidency blamed on a US officer at the Bagram airbase.
Rising death toll
In Afghanistan, at least 24 people, including two American soldiers, have been killed in three days of furious anti-US protests.
On Friday, armed protesters took refuge in shops in Kabul, where they killed one demonstrator, said police at the scene. In another Kabul rally, police said they were unsure who fired the shots that killed a second protester. Seven more protesters were killed in the western province of Herat, two more in eastern Khost province and one in the relatively peaceful northern Baghlan province, health and local officials said.
Meanwhile, German forces in northern Afghanistan have withdrawn early from a base in Taluqan because of anti-US unrest over the burning of Qurans, an army spokesman said on Friday.
Around 50 German soldiers pulled out of the base on Thursday after about 300 people had demonstrated peacefully outside it, the spokesman said.
(With additional reporting by Saba Imtiaz in Karachi)
Published in The Express Tribune, February 25th, 2012.
Twelve people were killed on Friday in the bloodiest day yet in protests that have raged across Afghanistan while hundreds of activists also took to the streets in Pakistan demanding leaders to resign over the desecration of copies of the Holy Quran at a Nato military base.
Up to 300 people blocked the main Grand Trunk road in Peshawar, stomped on and set fire to US flags, and kicked and beat the dummy representing America with sticks while it was burning. “The ugly face of America has been revealed with the desecration of the Holy Quran,” a banner read.
In Islamabad, the general secretary of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) told the crowd that the Islamic world should review its relations with US.
In Karachi, hundreds of activists of the banned outfit Jamaatud Dawachanted “Death to America”.
The demonstrators held up banners, one of which said: “The defeated Americans are bound to bite dust in their war against Allah and His Book.”
“We don’t accept Obama’s apology. The Muslims don’t accept his apology, as it is nothing but a farce,” said Naveed Qamar, the head of JuD in Karachi.
Foreign ministry condemnation
The foreign ministry strongly condemned the burning, stressing that the “utterly irresponsible and reprehensible things” do not happen again. “On behalf of the government and the people of Pakistan, we condemn in strongest possible terms the desecration of Holy Quran in Afghanistan,” foreign ministry spokesperson Abdul Basit told reporters.
US President Barack Obama apologised for the incident on Thursday, which the Afghan presidency blamed on a US officer at the Bagram airbase.
Rising death toll
In Afghanistan, at least 24 people, including two American soldiers, have been killed in three days of furious anti-US protests.
On Friday, armed protesters took refuge in shops in Kabul, where they killed one demonstrator, said police at the scene. In another Kabul rally, police said they were unsure who fired the shots that killed a second protester. Seven more protesters were killed in the western province of Herat, two more in eastern Khost province and one in the relatively peaceful northern Baghlan province, health and local officials said.
Meanwhile, German forces in northern Afghanistan have withdrawn early from a base in Taluqan because of anti-US unrest over the burning of Qurans, an army spokesman said on Friday.
Around 50 German soldiers pulled out of the base on Thursday after about 300 people had demonstrated peacefully outside it, the spokesman said.
(With additional reporting by Saba Imtiaz in Karachi)
Published in The Express Tribune, February 25th, 2012.