Chanting slogans denouncing Pakistan and the United States, the protesters gathered in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan where they forced the market to close and then held a meeting in a nearby madrassa, they said.
It was the first pro-bin Laden demonstration in Pakistan`s tribal belt, which Washington has called a headquarters of Al-Qaeda, since US commandos flew into Pakistan last week, killed bin Laden and flew off with his body.
The protesters, believed to be more than 500, were mostly supporters or members of Pakistani Taliban commander Maulvi Nazir`s group, which supports Afghan Taliban, officials told AFP.
A small number of local people also participated, they added.
"Osama bin Laden was our leader. We are his followers and we will continue to pursue his movement," pro-Taliban cleric Maulvi Ibrahim told the gathering.
"We will take revenge from Pakistan and America. We have already started it and recent attacks in Kandahar and other places in Afghanistan were to avenge of his martyrdom," he said.
In the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, a squad of Taliban militants held out for nearly 36 hours after attacking government targets on Saturday until the final gunman was shot dead overnight.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik told an Arab TV station Al-Arabiya earlier Monday that Pakistan knew of the US raid 15 minutes after it started but had no idea of the target.
Pakistan had previously said it had no idea about the operation until US officials rang their Pakistani counterparts after the 40-minute raid was over and the US helicopters had cleared Pakistani air space.
Although there have been isolated protests, there has been no major public outpouring in Pakistan where more people have died in bomb attacks than on September 11, 2001 and ordinary people struggle with inflation and power cuts. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
