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LAHORE:
Widespread condemnation of the killing of three civilians by
a US diplomat and other officials of the US Consulate in the
provincial capital was made on Friday.
Various religious and political parties staged
demonstrations and held protest meetings, calling for the
trial of the US personnel involved in the killing of three
innocent youths. The protesters held the rulers’
subservience to Washington responsible for allowing the US
diplomats to kill Pakistani civilians like sport.
Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Syed Munawwar Hasan alleged that the
government was trying to find ways for rescuing the American
terrorist instead of doing justice with the families of the
deceased, since a shameful competition was going on between
the interior and foreign ministries to become good slaves of
their foreign masters. He said there was nothing new in the
Lahore incident as Americans had repeatedly been caught
driving vehicles laden with lethal weapons but always they
were allowed to go scot-free with full protocol.
The JI
chief said the interior minister had always been denying the
presence of Blackwater, the private US militia known for
carrying out bloody carnage and bomb blasts on shrines and
religious processions in Iraq, but the incident had proved
that the Blackwater agents were roaming freely in Pakistan
under the full protection of US Consulate in an attempt to
wreak Iraq-like havoc in the country. He demanded checking
of the record of the US Consulate and keeping an eye on the
movement of US diplomats.
Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith amir Senator Sajid Mir said the
murder of three Pakistanis by a US diplomat was an act of
terrorism. Regretting that Islamabad’s policies had turned
the country into a shooting range for the Americans, he
demanded severe punishment for the killer besides a probe
how the diplomat was carrying illegal lethal weapons.
Terming it the first drone attack in the Punjab, he said the
government’s failed foreign policy had made the Americans
fire shots now in our streets and roads. Activists of the
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf held a demonstration at Mozang
Chungi, the area where the killing had taken place on
Thursday, to protest against the highhandedness of the US
diplomats.
Holding placards and banners inscribed with slogans against
the US and Pakistan government, they also burnt tyres and
blocked the road. They demanded that Raymond Davis be tried
under the anti-terror law to give a strong message to all
the foreigners that they would have to respect the law of
land while in Pakistan. They warned of a severe protest if
the rulers tried to rescue the killer. Shabab-e-Milli also
held rallies to protest the killing and seek exemplary
punishment for the accused.
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