Pak clerics call for protests

An alliance of Pakistani clerics will hold demonstrations across the country against the killings of polio eradication campaign workers, leaders said yesterday, as the death toll from attacks this week rose to nine.
Tahir Ashrafi, who heads the moderate Pakistan Ulema Council, said that 24,000 mosques associated with his organisation would preach against the killings of health workers during Friday prayers.
"Neither Pakistani customs nor Islam would allow or endorse this. Far from doing something wrong, these girls are martyrs for Islam because they were doing a service to humanity and Islam," he said.
Ashrafi's words are a clear signal that some of Pakistan's powerful clergy are willing to challenge violent militants.
Gunmen on motorbikes have killed nine anti-polio campaign workers this week, including a man who died of his wounds on Thursday. Some of the dead were teenage girls.
The violence forced all UN polio campaigne to shut in Pakistan.