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A moonlit skyNews
Hail (or boo) to the President
17/12/2004
IT was the Pakistani ticket of the year and they came in their
hundreds to see and hear President Pervez Musharraf on his first
visit to Manchester since the army general took over the running of
his troubled country.
And trouble was never far away as two groups of demonstrators
heckled outside the north Manchester hall where the Delhi-born
61-year-old spoke before an invited audience of UK Pakistani movers
and shakers.
One protest was staged by Miripuri-origin Pakistanis demanding a
halt to the extension of the Mangla dam, the other was by
supporters of the Hizb ut Tahrir party calling for the president's
resignation over his support for the Bush/Blair invasion of
Iraq
Mr Musharraf was not put out by the noisy hostility - he has faced
far worse (including an assassination attempt) at home. In fact he
invited the dam protesters to put their view to his government as
the project was still in the planning stage.
He told his audience how delighted he was to be in the city and to
receive such a warm reception from his countrymen and women.
On the broader issue of his leading Pakistan into the US/UK war
camp the president asked for patience. He said he had acted for the
good of his country which had been put into a very tight situation
after 9/11 and Bush's war on terrorism. The terrorist, he added,
had done great damage in Pakistan too.
Mr Musharraf continued a theme of his visit, calling for greater
recognition of the role of women, and the rights of women, among
Pakistani communities at home and abroad. He reminded his audience
that a fifth of his ministers were female with all of them
fulfiling their tasks with great skill and energy.
'Dam this dam' cry protesters
BEHIND
the memorable slogan: "India shoots Kashmiris - Pakistan drowns
them" demonstrators made their voices heard as crowds gathered for
the arrival of President Musharraf in Manchester.
Over 60 Kashmiris, mainly from the Oldham area, turned up outside
the Sheraton Rooms in Miles Platting, to protest over the plan to
extend the Mangla Dam.
The existing dam in Azzad Kashmir displaced hundreds of thousands
of peasants when it was originally built in the 1960s. Many were
re-settled in the newly created city of Mirpur, many also made
their way to the UK where they are still passionate supporters of
the interest of those people left behind.
Said spokesman Shams Rehman: "This extension will mean flooding
which will displace up to 100,000 people. Even parts of Mirpur will
be affected. We are against this especially as it will mean a bad
deal for the people. In the first flooding tens of thousands lost
their homes and they have never received the proper compensation
they were promised."
US 'poodle' must go
THE banner said
it all "Busharraf" - these demonstrators saw their President as a
poodle of US interests and were calling for his resignation.
Over 150 supporters of the Hizb ut Tahrir party demanded an end to
the pro-US 'war on terrorism' policy and the creation of an Islamic
state in Pakistan.
Spokesman Dr Sohail Dar, who works at North Manchester General
Hospital, said General Musharraf, like Bush and Blair, were
perpetuating terrorism with their aggression against Iraq and other
Muslim nations.
He added: "What is even worse they are extending the definition of
terrorism to include people who are members of political parties or
support legitimate political principles."
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