Friday, January 3, 2003 Posted: 3:21 PM HKT (0721 GMT)
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistani security agencies were on high alert and extra troops were being deployed near the U.S. Embassy and other sensitive sites to maintain order during a nationwide strike called Friday to protest a potential U.S.-led war against Iraq.
The demonstrations -- called by hard-line Islamic leaders that won unprecedented support in recent nationwide elections -- were planned in all of Pakistan's major cities. The religious leaders also called for shops to shutter their windows in allegiance.
Supporters say the marches are just a taste of the anger that an attack on Saddam Hussein's regime would cause in Pakistan, a deeply conservative Muslim country, but a crucial ally in the U.S.-led war on terror.
"The American attack on Iraq will be an attack on the Islamic world," said Fazl-ur Rahman, a one time candidate for prime minister and a leader of the Islamist coalition, called the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal. "If today we cannot stop America from attacking Iraq, then tomorrow they will attack Iran, and then it could be Pakistan."
