Thousands protest against release of US shooter

ISLAMABAD - Thousands of people from various political parties and civil society groups on Friday staged countrywide protest rallies against the release of CIA contractor Raymond Davis and demanded that government must disclose full details of the circumstances and terms under which the US shooter was freed.

By Afzal Khan

Published: Sun 20 Mar 2011, 12:34 AM

Last updated: Tue 19 May 2020, 5:52 PM

Political and religious parties including the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI), the Sunni Ittehad, the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and others had called for peaceful protests across Pakistan againstthe release of Davis.
In major cities like Karachi, Lahore and Multan large crowds joined the protest demonstrations after the Friday prayers and raised anti-government and anti-US slogans. Police prevented demonstrators to march up to the US embassy in Islamabad and consulate in Lahore.
Cricketer-turned-politician, PTI chief Imran Khan accused Pakistani rulers of succumbing to the US pressure and bartering away national honour, dignity and sovereignty. He said the federal and Punjab governments and security agencies had conspired to facilitate the release by keeping the nation in the ark.
Imran vowed to launch civil disobedience movement to oust the corrupt political leadership.
The JI chief, Munawwar Hasan, accused President Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League chief Nawaz Sharif of submitting to the American dictats at the cost of national interests.
He also accused Pakistani intelligence services of reaching a deal with the CIA for the US shooter’s freedom.
“(Our) rulers were fully part of the deal that led to Davis’ release,” he said. The government had declared ‘high alert’ across the country for at least a week because of apprehensions of subversive activities and also possible violence during protests by different groups. The US authorities in Pakistan also decided to close the embassy in Islamabad and consulates in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar.
According to AFP, security was tight and the US embassy in Islamabad and its consulates in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar were closed in anticipation of public anger.
Some 3,000 people rallied outside Islamabad’s Lal Masjid against the release of US national Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor who shot dead two Pakistanis in January.
The protesters chanted “Friends of the US are traitors”, “Down with America” and “Hang Zardari”, a reference to the unpopular president.
Hundreds of people rallied in Lahore, including demonstrators from the religious Jamaat-e-Islami party and outlawed religious party Jamaat-ud-Dawa, and from the party headed by cricket hero turned politician Imran Khan.
They burned US flags, chanting “Go America, go” and “Go Zardari, go.”
Protests also broke out in the country’s south, where demonstrators from Jamaat-e-Islami torched a US flag in Quetta and hundreds of people rallied in Karachi.
In Multan, a large group of people chanted slogans against the United States and Pakistani government, charging their rulers with “bartering the national honour for their own luxuries,” witnesses said.
In Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district where recent drone attacks have been concentrated, more than 1,000 tribesmen called for an immediate end to drone strikes and compensation to victims’ families.
They shouted “Death to America” and “Recall our ambassador to America”, while local cleric Maulvi Mohammed Rooman, who led the rally, condemned the latest drone attack, calling it “intolerable”.
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(With input from Agencies)