Islamists protest US supply agreement

8 Jul 2012, 10:18 pm   -   Source: AAP

Thousands of hardline Islamists are streaming toward Islamabad to protest a decision to allow NATO troop movements into Afghanistan.

Thousands of hardline Islamists are streaming toward Pakistan's capital in a massive convoy to protest a decision to allow the US and other NATO countries to resume shipping troop supplies through the country to Afghanistan.

The demonstration, which started in the eastern city of Lahore, was organised by the Difah-e-Pakistan Council, or Defence of Pakistan, a group of politicians and religious leaders who have been the most vocal opponents of the supply line.

Pakistan closed the route in November in retaliation for American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops but after months of negotiations, Islamabad agreed to reopen the route last week when the US apologised for the deaths.

Following a meeting with Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar in Tokyo on Sunday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the two countries were putting past tensions behind them to focus on the future.

She told reporters there the two had enjoyed "a broad-ranging discussion" on resolving some of the issues surrounding the re-opening of border routes.

"We are both encouraged that we have been able to put the recent difficulties behind us so we can focus on the many challenges ahead," Clinton said, on the sidelines of a conference on the future for Afghanistan.

One of the reasons Pakistan waited seven months to resolve the issue is that the government was worried about a domestic backlash in a country where anti-American sentiment is rampant despite billions of dollars in US aid over the last decade.

Sunday's protest started in the centre of Lahore, where several thousand people assembled with scores of buses, cars and motorbikes.

They linked up with thousands more supporters waiting on the city's edge and drove toward Islamabad in a so-called "long march" against the supply line.

The convoy included about 200 vehicles carrying some 8000 people when it left Lahore, said police official Babar Bakht.

On completing the four-hour journey to Islamabad, they were planning to hold a protest in front of the parliament building.

"By coming out on the streets, the Pakistani nation has shown its hatred for America," one of the Difah-e-Pakistan leaders, Maulana Samiul Haq, known as the father of the Taliban, said in a speech on the outskirts of Lahore.

Supporters showered Haq with rose petals as he rode through Lahore in the back of a truck with other Difah-e-Pakistan leaders, including Hafiz Saeed, founder of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group; Hamid Gul, a retired Pakistani intelligence chief with a long history of militant support; and Syed Munawar Hasan, leader of Pakistan's most powerful Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami.

Many demonstrators rode on the tops of buses, waving party flags and shouting slogans against the US and NATO.

"One solution for America, jihad, jihad!" they shouted.

The crowd was dominated by members of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, widely believed to be a front group for Lashkar-e-Toiba, which is blamed for the attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008 that killed more than 160 people.

While the supply line through Pakistan was closed, the US was forced to rely on a longer, more costly route that runs into Afghanistan through Central Asia. The route cost the US an extra $US100 million ($A97.54 million) per month.

The US also wanted to resolve the conflict because it needs Pakistan's help to strike a peace deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan so that American troops can withdraw without the country descending into further chaos. Pakistan is seen as key to an agreement because of its strong historical ties with the Taliban and its allies.

Clinton stressed that her talks with Khar had "focused on the necessity of defeating the terror networks that threaten the stability of Pakistan and Afghanistan" as well as Afghan reconciliation efforts.

"We also discussed economic support and the goal of moving towards more trade then aid as part of our economic relationship," she said.

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