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Pakistani women take to the streets asking for the bomb

Hundreds of women marched through Islamabad on Friday to press the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief to detonate a nuclear device, following similar tests by India.

The activists of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami chanted slogans against India for carrying out five nuclear tests near Pakistan's eastern border last week, and criticised Western countries for their failure to slap sanctions on New Delhi.

The government of Pakistan should not be scared of the West and sanction a nuclear explosion to match India's belligerence, read a placard carried by one of the participants.

Sharief, facing conflicting advice, is under domestic pressure to conduct the nuclear tests while the world community has been urging him to show restraint.

Twentyone political and religious parties on Thursday vowed all out support for Sharief's government should it detonate nuclear device. Time is running out, any delay will damage the image of Pakistan and Muslim nations around the world, said the JI-sponsored all-party conference.

United States and Japan have threatened sanctions against Pakistan, in line with the ones on India, if it conducts a nuclear test.

Meanwhile, Sharief spoke with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami by telephone and said Pakistan never wanted to detonate a nuclear device and enter into an arms race to increase tension in the region, the state-run television reported.

Khatami offered Teheran's co-operation to maintain peace and tranquillity in the region, the broadcast said.

UNI

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