Peshawar, Dec 23: Lawyers in northwest Pakistan staged anti-US protests today amid mounting criticism that Washington is meddling in the affairs of the Islamic republic in its pursuit of al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives. The demonstrations in Peshawar, capital of the Islamist-ruled North West Frontier Province (NWFP), are the latest in a series of protests and pronouncements aimed at undermining President Pervez Musharraf's support for the US-led war on terror.
"Pakistan has become a US colony as FBI agents conduct raids violating Pakistan's sovereignty and independence," Peshawar bar association president Sher Afgan Khattak told a rally of some 150 lawyers.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has agents in Pakistan and they are widely believed to be helping domestic security forces in hunts against al-Qaeda suspects in the country.
Chanting anti-US slogans and carrying banners calling for the US to "Quit Pakistan", the protesters staged a one-kilometer march to a district court.
Daily protests have swept across NWFP as well as the country's two largest cities, Karachi and Lahore, following a high-profile raid on Thursday by more than 50 Pakistani and US agents.
Nine suspected militants linked to the al-Qaeda terror network were arrested in the raid on the home of 65-year-old doctor Ahmad Javed Khawaja. Bureau Report