Tribesmen threaten US with holy war: protest organised by Jamaat-i-Islami

Hundreds of Pakistani tribesmen on Tuesday threatened the United States with holy war should it take action against Haqqani extremists in North Waziristan on the Afghan border. In a protest organised by Jamaat-i-Islami, local tribesmen party activists, some armed with Kalashnikovs, gathered in the town of Jamrud in the Khyber tribal district along the Afghan border.
The protestors then set off in convoy to Landikotal, a town on the border, where party leaders were to deliver final addresses. The crowd of hundreds chanted slogans such as "Death to America", Allah Akhbar (God is great) and al-Jihad (holy war), said an AFP reporter.
There is growing unease in Pakistan about US pressure to take action against the Haqqani militant network or the face the consequences. The group was founded by former CIA asset turned al Qaeda ally Jalaluddin Haqqani and its leaders are based in North Waziristan. Although nothing suggests the United States is considering a ground incursion, Pakistanis fear action from American ground troops.
"America has already failed in Afghanistan. Do they need another graveyard in the Pakistani tribal areas?" Qazi Hussain Ahmed, a prominent JI leader, told the gathering, calling on the government to end its US alliance. "The Pakistani tribal areas would prove a bigger graveyard of Americans if they ever attack these areas," he added.