Nuclear Protests Grow

07/02/2004| IslamWeb

Islamic party supporters burned tyres and stoned cars in protest yesterday against the arrests of scientists on charges of leaking Pakistan's nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea, witnesses said. Police fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators; about 50 of whom were arrested, police said, while witnesses said three people were hurt in clashes. Five scientists and administrators from Pakistan's main uranium enrichment facility were arrested on Wednesday, the same day the father of the country's nuclear programme, Abdul Qadeer Khan, confessed to leaking nuclear information abroad. Opposition parties called for a parliamentary inquiry into the sale of Pakistan's nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. The opposition Pakistan People's Party said that Khan's confession didn't answer questions about the responsibility of intelligence and military officials for securing the nuclear programme. "The matter will not end with the so-called confession of Khan and the so-called pardon by General Musharraf," said Farhatullah Babar, a senator and spokesman for the party. Members of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six Islamic parties, called a nationwide strike yesterday to protest at the "humiliation of national heroes" who helped Pakistan to develop its nuclear bomb. Witnesses said MMA activists burned tyres to block roads in the port city of Karachi and pelted moving vehicles with stones to enforce the strike. Three people including a policeman were injured in clashes between groups of youth and police in the city's western Qasba district, they said. A total of 50 people were detained during "incidents of minor violence" in Karachi, Sindh province police chief Syed Kamal Shah said. "We have arrested about 50 activists of different religious parties who were trying to create law and order problems here," Shah said. "There was no major incident and by and large the city has remained peaceful," he said. A complete strike was observed in the central city of Multan and the nearby cities of Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan and Khanewal. The shut-down was partial in other cities of the populous Punjab province. However, people in Lahore, Islamabad and other parts of Punjab ignored the strike call, residents said. Munawwar Hasan, secretary general of MMA's key component Jamaat-i-Islami, claimed at a Press conference here that Musharraf was "implementing the anti-Muslim American agenda and Khan's humiliation is part of the same scheme". Calling the strike a "grand success", he said it showed that the people of Pakistan rejected the government's propaganda against Khan. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. (AFP/File/Saeed Khan)