(The Independent (Pakistan), 14 October 2000)
KARACHI, Oct 14: Pakistani Muslims on Friday torched an effigy of US President Bill Clinton and protested over Israeli gunship attacks on Palestinians, police and witnesses said, reports AFP.About 100 activists from the radical group National Islamic Front (NIF), staged a rally in an industrial district of southern Karachi, witnesses said, chanting slogans against Israeli forces and burning Clinton's effigy."Clinton is responsible for the murder of Palestinian people," said NIF leader Usman Siddiqui.Political and religious leaders joined forces around Pakistan to condemn the "atrocities" committed by Israeli forces over the last two weeks as the Mideast crisis escalates.
Meanwhile, clerics urged Muslim countries, particualrly those in the Arab world to settle their differences and formulate a united policy to counter "Israeli aggression." "Jehad (holy war) is (a) must against Israel," Mufti Jamil, a central leader of the fundamentalist Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam party said."Why there has been so much hue and cry against the killing of three Israeli soldiers when the world remained silent over the genocide of so many Palestinians," Ghafoor Ahmed, a senior leader of the Jamaat-i-Islami party asked.
On Thursday, the Israelis fired rockets on Ramallah, Gaza City and Jericho after a Palestinian crowd lynched to death Israeli soldiers in Ramallah.Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in a letter to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said: "Our prayers are with you as you lead the Palestinian people to face this new challenge."Bhutto, who lives in self-exile in London, called for a "quick and just" action by the international community to restore peace, her party here said.Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar on Friday condemned "the Israeli use of heavy arms and air power against the Palestinian people and civilian targets in Ramallah and Gaza.""Israel must immediately cease all aggressive attacks and abide by the Security Council resolution of October 6, calling for (the) cessation of violence and resumption of negotiations for an early and final settlement of the Middle East issue," he added.Nearly two weeks of violence in the Mideast has so far claimed more than 100 lives, leaving a peace initiative hanging by a thread.Diplomatic hopes to defuse the crisis are pinned on a summit that could take place in Egypt as early as Saturday.