Pro-Taliban Pakistanis block Karakoram highway
ISLAMABAD, Oct 26 (Reuters) Armed tribesmen blocked the mountainous Karakoram highway linking Pakistan and China today to protest against Islamabads support for the United States offensive against Afghanistans ruling Taliban.
"They have blocked the highway to express their point of view," a senior Pakistani government official told Reuters.
Residents said members of a hardline Islamic group had set up road blocks and staged sit-ins at several places along the highway whose spectacular scenery attracts thousands of tourists.
The Taliban have many sympathisers among hardline Muslims in Pakistan who have held almost daily protests against the US campaign to force Kabul to hand over Osama bin Laden, suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
A resident of the small town of Besham, halfway between Islamabad and the northern town of Gilgit, told Reuters a group of armed men had blocked the road.
"There are some police but what can they do? they cannot fight the local residents," he said.
Tourism officials said they did not know how many tourists were trapped by the protests along the 1,300-km highway, which follows part of the fabled silk road.
But they said tourist arrivals had dropped off since the September 11 attacks.
"Local authorities are talking to the protesters, trying to persuade them to give up the blockade and will take necessary steps after negotiation," said the official who asked not be to be identified.
Activists of Tehrik Nifaze Shariat Mohammadi (TSNM) led by Sufi Mohammad, have blocked the road before to press for the imposition of Islamic Shariah law.
The group wants to send armed tribesmen to defend the Taliban against a ground offensive either by the Afghan opposition Northern Alliance, or US forces.
Pakistan has warned them not to do so.
"We have advised them clearly not to go to Afghanistan but the government is also not in a position to stop them if they pass through unofficial routes," the official said.