A mass rally of Islamists wound up in emotional scenes here Wednesday after three days of bitter anti-West speeches and pledges of support for the Taliban militia in Afghanistan.
Organisers said around one million people, mostly members of Pakistani fundamentalist parties but also clerics and teachers from abroad, had attended the conference but witnesses put the numbers at around 200,000.
The gathering, convened by Pakistani fundamentalist group the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, marked the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Sunni Muslim school of Deoband.
Witnesses said it had turned into a mass rally in support of the puritanical Taliban Islamic militia, which controls most of neighbouring Afghanistan, as well as indicted terrorist Osama bin Laden.
Some 200 speakers had addressed the conference since it began Monday, with many making calls for jihad, or holy war, against Western powers who are accused of trying to undermine Islam.
The Taliban, followers of an ultra-conservative line of the Deoband school, are condemned internationally for widespread human rights abuses and their backing of alleged terrorists such as suspected US embassy bomber bin Laden.
A recorded speech from Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, in which he condemned the "infidel world" for conspiring against Muslims, was played amid reverential silence Wednesday.
The crowd was later whipped into chants of "Long live Omar" and "Long live Osama" after a poem was read in their praise.
"He (bin Laden) is blessed by God, he is brave and he is a guest of Islam," said the poem by local writer Shamas-ur-Rehman.
"We are ready to lay down our blood to save him. He is the pride of Muslims."
Bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire, dissident and financier of Islamic groups, lives as a "guest" of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
He has been indicted in the United States for allegedly masterminding twin US embassy bombings in East Africa in 1998 which killed more than 220 people. He is also a prime suspect in last year's USS Cole bombing in Yemen.
The United Nations has slapped political, diplomatic, aviation and financial sanctions against the Taliban leadership for its refusal to extradite him.
The conference later adopted resolutions including calls for the removal of the sanctions against the Taliban and the withdrawal of US forces from the Persian Gulf.
Many among the massive crowd were moved to tears as mullahs led prayers to close the conference.
The gathering, some 10 kilometers (six miles) outside the northwestern city of Peshawar near the Afghan border, was allowed by the Pakistani military authorities despite a ban on public rallies.
Delegates from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Britain, China, India, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and the United States took part.
Citing Afghanistan, the Palestinians, Kashmir and Chechnya, Taliban chief Omar said Muslims around the world were subject to aggression by non-Muslim powers.
"The infidel world is not letting Muslims form a government of their own choice," said his message, aired originally on Taliban radio on Tuesday.
"They want to resist jihad and destroy the Islamic system. Therefore, under the present critical situation, Muslim unity is needed."
The Taliban's unique form of Islamic law bans television, cinema and music, requires women to cover themselves from head to toe in public and men to wear untrimmed beards.
Women are forbidden to work except in the health sector, and girls are not allowed to attend public schools -- PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
