These parties will feel bound by any Fatwa that should be issued in Afghanistan. The result will be Jihad against anyone in Pakistan who co-operates with the US as well as US personnel civilian or otherwise. This is precisely the outcome that some of us feared. No doubt some will welcome this as an opportunity to crack down on Islamic fundamentalism. No degree of brutality will result in serious attempts by the US to stop it. Cheers, Ken Hanly >From Australian Broadcasting: Hardline Pakistanis threaten civil war over support for US A coalition of Pakistan's hardline Islamic parties today vowed to launch a nationwide campaign of strikes and protests over Pakistan's support for impending US military action against Afghanistan. More than 30 parties, which make up the newly-formed Council for Defence of Afghanistan and Pakistan, agreed at a meeting in Lahore that they will "consider any US attack on Afghanistan as an attack on Pakistan". They warn that Pakistani cooperation with any attack could trigger civil war in the country. The council is calling for strikes and protests across Pakistan from Friday, in a bid to force the Government of President Pervez Musharraf to reverse its decision to cooperate with whatever action the US decides to take against Afghanistan. "If Afghanistan declares Jihad [holy war] against America, we will stand by them," the parties said in statement. "Pakistan will have to suffer devastating consequences for a long, long time." Pakistan's mainstream political parties have backed Mr Musharraf's handling of the crisis and accepted that the country cannot afford to stand in the way of the US.
