"We are very angry. People are very angry at America and England," said Abdul Aziz Khan.
Mr Khan is a supporter of Afganistan's ruling Taliban regime and a prominent member of Pakistan's fundamentalist Islamic JUI party. "There should have been more negotiation. People are very angry," he repeated.
And on the streets of Pakistan yesterday, they vented their anger at the American-led air assaults on Osama bin Laden and the Taliban regime that shields him. There were violent protests in the capital, Islamabad, as well as in Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi, and in the border cities of Peshawar and here is Quetta.
Near Quetta's Serena hotel where I and other journalists were staying, some 400 pro-Taliban protesters marked the early morning by tossing rocks and shouting slogans. "Death to America," they screamed; "Bush is a terrorist."
Police tried to keep them from the hotel gates and the debris stroon streets were soon filled with tear-gas. As the protests escalated during the day and numbers grew to over 1,000, the police opened fire killing one man. At least 26 others were injured and more than 100 arrested. The offices of Unicef were burned, and the offices of the UNHCR were severely damaged.
A pall of smoke hung over the city as the police battled a mob that smashed windows, burned tires and eventually set ablaze three cinemas, several shops, a bank, vehicles and an office of Pakistan's Central Investigations Agency. One of the cimenas was chosen because it was showing two English language films, said the owner.
The launch of the military offensive against bin Laden brought much of Pakistan to a halt. Shops throughout the country closed and schools also shut down.
As dusk approached yesterday evening, Quetta had the look of a deserted battlefield guarded by thousands of police armed with sticks or sub-machine guns. Small bands of youths continued to launch brief attacks before disappearing into the side streets.
This Muslim country is unspeakably fragile, torn between a majority who agree with the decision of President Pervez Musharreff to support the attack on Afghanistan, and a solid minority which supports the Taliban regime and bin Laden.
The president dismissed yesterday's street reaction. "I know the people of Pakistan... The majority are with us," he told them on TV.
Throughout today, his noisy minority may have something to say about that.