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Pak protests get off to slow start

Tight security was enforced in the Pakistan port of Karachi today following the strike call given by the main Islamic opposition party, Jammat-e-Islami, against Sunday's Kashmir pullout plan.

Scores of paramilitary rangers and police backed by armoured personnel carriers manned roads and sensitive areas in Pakistan's biggest city, but organisers said the protest got off to a slow start and little disruption was reported.

Rallies and demonstrations were called for this afternoon in Karachi, Lahore and the capital, Islamabad, against a US-Pakistan agreement that Kashmir Mujahideen groups and Jamaat-e-Islami branded a 'betrayal' of the nation.

Jamaat-e-Islami said the strike was aimed at ending Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief's government after he agreed with US President Bill Clinton to take 'concrete steps' to end Pakistan's worst military confrontation with India over Kashmir in nearly 30 years.

The call was backed by Kashmiri militant groups who termed the Sunday pact a sellout of principles Pakistan has maintained for years and a betrayal of the 'freedom fighters' operating inside Kashmir.

Until Sunday, Pakistan had said it had no control over the Mujahideen militants, to whom it gave only political and moral but no military or strategic support.

UNI

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