Pakistanis rally against US threats

Sat Oct 1, 2011

Pakistanis have staged nationwide rallies to condemn the United States' threats of unilaterally attacking Pakistan's tribal belt in an alleged hunt for the militant Haqqani network, Press TV reports.

Activists from religious parties took to streets on Friday, days after Washington claimed Pakistan's intelligence agency was supporting the Taliban-allied Haqqani network.

“We are not afraid of the US threats, we are ready to protect our country at all costs if the American forces attack us,” one Pakistani protester said.

The US blames the Haqqani network for recent attacks on its embassy in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.

On September 13, Taliban militants fired rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles at the US embassy and NATO headquarters in Kabul in a 19-hour siege of the buildings that led to the death of four civilians and two Afghan policemen.

US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Thursday that there was growing support in the US Congress for military options against militants in Pakistan beyond the drone strikes Washington has been conducting against pro-Taliban groups in the Asian country.

“We have suffered a lot due to our alliance with the US and its so-called war on terror. Peace can only return to Pakistan once US troops leave the region,” Leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party Ghafoor Haidri said.

Amid escalating tensions, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani brought together leaders of major political groups, including opposition parties, in the All Parties Conference which was held on Thursday as an act of unity in the face of growing US pressures and threats.

“We will not accept any pressure to do more. We will not compromise on our national interests. I hope that all the political leaders and the nation once again get united to protect the country's sovereignty,” Gillani said.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/202102.html.