INDIA/PAKISTAN: PROTESTS AGAINST US ATTACKS ON AFGHANISTAN/SUDAN (2)

Описание: (29 Aug 1998) Natural Sound

The United States cruise missile attacks on targets in Sudan and Afghanistan continue to fuel angry protest in the Muslim world.

Anti American sentiment has been running high among the Muslim communities of Pakistan and India where hundreds of demonstrators showed their feeling towards what they say is a U-S conspiracy aimed against Islam.

Women belonging to a pro-independence Muslim separatist group in Kashmir burnt the American flag on Friday to protest against the U-S cruise missile attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan.

The protestors said the American missile attacks into Afghanistan and Sudan were part of a conspiracy against Islam.

SOUNDBITE ( Hindi):
"We have decided to openly protest because America wants to eliminate all the Muslims. That is why we are burning this flag."
SUPER CAPTION : Muslim Protestor

Kashmir is a predominantly Muslim state and has been in the grip of a secessionist movement since 1989.

Hundreds of Muslim protestors took to the streets in India's capital, Delhi as well on Friday.

Carrying anti-U-S banners, the protestors gathered at a mosque near the Indian parliament and shouted slogans against the American President Bill Clinton.

They said the missile strikes against alleged terrorist targets were meant to distract people from President Clinton's sex scandals.

SOUNDBITE( English) :
"He wants to distract the public mind.. especially the American mind. It is a deep- seated conspiracy."
SUPER CAPTION : Vox pop , Muslim protestor

Many demonstrators blamed the United States for having helped religious terrorist groups in the Asian region and encouraging alleged Muslim terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden during the Afghan war.

At another demonstration near the U-S embassy in Delhi, religious protestors burnt the American flag to vent their anger.

The protest rally was organised by the Students Islamic Movement of India.

Washington claims its missiles hit a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan that possessed chemicals used to make VX nerve gas and also destroyed terrorist training camps in Taliban-controlled parts of Afganistan.

The attacks reportedly killed 29 people and injured many others.

The U-S says this was in retaliation for the bombings of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

12 Americans were among the 257 people killed in those bombings.

The U-S embassy bombings have been linked to a Muslim militant organisation led by dissident Saudi Arabian millionaire Osama Bin Laden.

Vowing to avenge the deaths of those killed in the U-S missile strikes, the protestors said they would declare a " Jihad " or holy war against the United States.

SOUNDBITE ( Hindi) :
"We want to tell America that if it thinks that Afganistan and
Taliban are small powers, it is mistaken. The bombings in Nairobi
and Kenya (sic) are only a beginning."
SUPER CAPTION: Mohammad Ilyasi , Muslim protestor

Tempers ran high even as the American flag bore the brunt of the protestors' anger.

And in Peshawar, Pakistan, Jamiat Ulema Party members and their supporters also took to the streets to condemn the United States' missile attacks.

The protestors chanted pro-Taliban slogans in support of the hard line Islamic movement in control of Afghanistan.

They were watched by Pakistani security police equipped with riot gear but there were no clashes with the authorities.

The protest march culminated in demonstrators burning an effigy of President Clinton.

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