Thousands of people demonstrated in Pakistan's major cities today to oppose their government's support for the US campaign against terrorism.
At least three people were killed as the protesters burned effigies of President Bush and vowed to fight US forces if they attack Afghanistan.
However, the rallies during a national strike called by Islamic religious parties were smaller than expected, and that may indicate that a majority of Pakistanis have accepted the government's decision to team up with Washington against their Islamic neighbour, Afghanistan.
The demonstrations were called after Pakistan's leader, General Pervez Musharraf, backed US efforts to apprehend alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and to break up his suspected terrorist network operating from Afghanistan.
"The terrorist attacks in the United States were so monstrous, so big, that no sane person would like to implicate himself with such action. "Many Pakistanis now feel that Osama bin Laden may not be as innocent as they once thought. His appeal as a hero has dwindled," said Mr Riffat Hussain, a political analyst at Qauid-e-Azam University in Islamabad.
However, he also said that public support for religious parties that want to unseat Gerneral Musharraf could quickly swell if US forces attack Afghanistan, especially if innocent people are killed. Anti-US and anti-Pakistan rallies were held in the cities of Peshawar, Islamabad, Karachi, Quetta and Lahore, following services at mosques on the Muslim day of prayer.
In Peshawar, 10,000 marched to the city centre, screaming slogans against the US and Pakistanis governments. They gathered in front of the main mosque where their religious leaders made speeches supporting bin Laden and the hard-line Muslim Taliban leadership that has protected him.
Jamming the streets, the protesters carried, then burned at least three life-size effigies of Bush and shouted slogans such as "Long live Osama."
Meanwhile the United States will soon lift sanctions imposed on India and Pakistan for their 1998 nuclear tests and will reschedule $600 million in bilateral debt with Islamabad next week, a senior Western diplomat said today.
"You will see discernible progress soon," the diplomat said when asked if the sanctions would be lifted as Washington builds support for its "anti-terrorist" campaign.
The diplomat, who asked not to be identified, said the work was continuing. It would allow a resumption of various kinds of US help to Pakistan.