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American Morning

America Strikes Back: Police, Protesters Clash in Pakistan Protests

Aired October 12, 2001 - 09:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's John Vause joins us from Islamabad, with the latest -- John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, it is 6:00 here now. The sun is going down; Islamabad, at least, seems relatively calm, as it does around most of the country. But as you mentioned, it was a day of violent protests, specially in Karachi. Not only did they are torch that a KFC store, they built burned seven vehicles, including a car which belongs to the mayor. There were battles between demonstrators and police. Demonstrators threw stones; police respond with tear gas.

Police have been ordered to keep a tight lid on these demonstrations. Pakistani President Musharraf is walking a very tight political rope here at the moment; he has said he is willing to allow peaceful demonstrations, but will not allow them to turn violent.

Here, outside of Islamabad, in the town of Rawalpinde, which is the major city outside of Islamabad, there was also a protest there. They attacked President Musharraf verbally for the first time. They accused him and President George W. Bush of being a dog, which is an incredible insult here in Pakistan, and they said that Mr. Musharraf was part of an evil alliance against the Muslim world.

It is the first time since these airstrikes began that Mr. Musharraf has been publicly criticized in these rallies, and it is interesting to not that two years ago today, he seized power in a popular coup. In Rawalpindi, where today they are denouncing him as being anti-Muslim and part of this evil alliance, two years ago, they were cheering him as he went through the streets -- Paula.

ZAHN: You talk so much about the tightrope he is walking right now. What does President Musharraf plan to do about these increasingly violent demonstrations? It looks, at this stage, as if he is deploying troops, he is deploying the police. He has is willing to allow those protests as long as they are peaceful. He is doing things like sending troops to the boarder town of Quetta to try to keep these protesters in line. Afghan refugees who take part in anti- U.S. Protests have been warned if they take part they will be deported.

He is appealing to what he calls the moderate majority, which he believes is on his side, which support what he has done. But the point here is that it is not the majority, the moderate majority he has to worry about; it is, as you say, that minority, which, if these airstrikes continue and this action against Afghanistan goes on, will become increasingly vocal and increasingly violent.

ZAHN: John Vause, thank you so much for that update.

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