Pakistanis rampage over cartoons

[Dark]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4708848.stm

Police in Pakistan have fired tear gas to disperse at least 3,000 students demonstrating against cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad.
Sixteen people were held for damaging public property in the protest in the north-western city of Peshawar.

Students also smashed hoardings advertising the Norwegian telecom giant, Telenor, and chanted "Death to America" and "God is Great".

The controversial cartoons were first published in Denmark last year.

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:wtf: "Death to America"? For once it wasn't our fault and we still get blamed!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Rest assured that the cartoons are merely an excuse

They are being used to inflame Muslims against all things Western. The fact that they have ignored Denmark in their chants and are talking only about the US shows that what they were told was manufactured to make the fault be that of the US. The fact that the US invaded Iraq due to lies hasn't helped our international credibility, therefore making it easier for militants in Pakistan to persuade their followers that the US was really involved.

That being said, I think the thing to focus on is who benefits from this demonstration. Does it give some local cleric more power? If so, does that mean that fundamentalists are planning to try a coup and overthrow the government? Or is it a way for the Pakistani government to diffuse some anger and unrest and redirect it towards a third party? If this is the case, what does it say about the government and its loyalty towards the US?

[Igel]

2. Peshawar's MMA territory.

In short, you're right: the MMA is using this as a way of playing to its power base, which are the jihadi elements and conservative elements in Pakistani society, in order to weaken and possibly paint Musharraf into a corner.

The MMA is a bunch of (ultra)conservative minor political parties that come in #3, when united, in the Pakistani parliament. They loathe Musharraf, and all who cooperate with the infidel. Suggest talking with Israel and they protest. Kashmir is one of their issues; of late, anything that plays off Pashtun tribalism and Muslim "tribalism" is also their issue. The NWFP is their bastion, where they control the government: They've tried to set up, with some success, their own mutawa'a, complete with a mutawa'a head not responsible to the elected authorities, and with a force of fundie brownshirts that break up "illicit" gatherings, deface "un-Islamic" billboards and confiscate music tapes and instruments. Many "progressive" (and some moderately conservative) NGOs have fled, claiming either persecution or just being incapable of getting basic cooperation from the MMA. Like Hamas, they want to be the only provider of social services. Truly a populist party, in the worst meaning of the term.

They're arguably "democratic", as Sadr is in Iraq, Mashaal is in Palestine (ok, Syria), and some other Muslim Brotherhood offshoots have been. Whether this means "elect us and you get a perpetual theocracy" or "elect us, and we'll step down peacefully if you unelect us, grateful for having been allowed to serve", is unknown.

Edit: MMA is also the group that pitches a fit when people mention removing the "jihadi" Qur'aanic versus from the public school curriculum, and they were mighty upset when the "religion" entry was stripped from the Pakistani passport. They rather liked having that bit of information required on internal documents.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. thanks for this information

I'm bookmarking it for future reference.