Pakistanis arrested for inciting violence in Afghan cartoon protests

41 Pakistanis detained in Zabul

KABUL: Afghan authorities have arrested more than 40 Pakistani workers for inciting violence during a protest against cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in which four people were killed, an official said Thursday. The men were arrested with their Arab boss in Qalat in southern Zabul province where police opened fire to quell rampaging demonstrators Wednesday. “The protests were supposed to be peaceful. But we have proof that these men were involved in turning it to violence,” said provincial spokesman Gulab Shah Alikhil. Alikhil said 16 of the 41 arrested men had confessed to having had a “hand in violating the protests”. All would go on trial, he said. The Arab boss was a Saudi national, he said. Authorities in Qalat also planned to expel more than 100 Pakistani workers in coming days, Alikhil said. “We’ll not allow even a single Pakistani worker to work in Zabul any more,” he said. This included workers who entered Afghanistan with a visa. The deaths in Qalat took to 11 the death toll from five days of protests in Afghanistan against the cartoons, which have appeared in several international newspapers, most of them European. Protestors in the city pelted police and US-led coalition soldiers with stones and set alight several vehicles and a school, witnesses said. Four protestors were killed in police shootouts and several people wounded. Defence ministry spokesman General Mohammed Zahir Azimi said Wednesday Pakistani workers had played a role in “sabotaging” the Qalat demonstration. A police spokesman said however that the cartoon protest had turned violent after being joined by Afghans who had been at a separate demonstration about jobs in the town going to nationals from neighbouring Pakistan. afp