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Bush Visits Indian Tech City, Draws Protests

Posted on: Friday, 3 March 2006, 02:35 CST

By Tabassum Zakaria and Palash Kumar

HYDERABAD (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in one of India's premier technology cities, Hyderabad, on Friday as its large Muslim population shut down markets and businesses in the old quarters in protests over his visit.

Bush's visit to the southern city, where he was to spend just a few hours, came a day after he sealed a landmark civilian atomic cooperation deal with New Delhi that recognizes India's status as a responsible nuclear power.

State officials welcomed Bush and his wife, Laura, when they stepped down from Air Force One and children garlanded the couple with flowers.

A smiling Bush signed autographs for the children and kissed each one before the couple boarded a U.S. military helicopter to fly to a regional agricultural university on the outskirts of Hyderabad where he was due to meet farmers.

Bush was also to visit a business school and speak to young entrepreneurs.

But a strike called by seven Muslim groups in a city where 40 percent of residents are Muslim forced cancellation of some appearances by Bush's wife, police said. U.S. officials could not confirm that.

Traffic was very sparse in the usually choked streets and bylanes of Hyderabad's old quarters as markets and businesses shut down in protest.

Large groups of mostly Muslim men huddled at street corners as armed riot police in blue camouflage patrolled lanes, and vehicles with water cannon stood ready to prevent any trouble.

"Leader or fool? We are presenting the facts, you decide" said a big Urdu-language poster beside a picture of a smiling Bush.

Ahsan Ali, a 24-year-old man who works in a local travel agency, said he did not mind closing down business for a day.

"Bush is against Muslims. Business is not as important as humanity." Ali said.

FIGHTER PLANES, SATELLITES

"He is a killer," added Rathis, a Muslim doctor who gave only one name. "We have shut down to protest his visit."

On the eve of Bush's arrival, Hyderabad's Sunni Ulema board chief Moulana Syed Shah Badruddin Quadri Al-Jeelani had urged Muslims to recite verses from the Koran to drive him away.

"He is no less than a Satan and, since we cannot physically drive him away, we are seeking divine intervention by reciting from the scriptures," he said.

Security for Bush in the region has been stepped up.

In Pakistan, a suspected suicide car bomb outside the U.S. consulate in Karachi killed an American and three other people on Thursday. Bush said terrorists would not stop his Pakistan visit, where he is due to hold talks on Saturday.

In Hyderabad, at least 30 battalions of Indian soldiers and police and 3,000 snipers were deployed. Fighter planes and helicopters were providing air cover, police commissioner Mahender Reddy said.

The Times of India quoted officials as saying satellites were being used to keep watch on 10 places of worship in the city where protests were expected.

The nuclear deal, which would make U.S. nuclear fuel and technology available to New Delhi despite concerns in the United States, put the seal on Bush's India visit.

Indian media were elated.

"It's a Deal. A Very Big Deal," screamed the Times of India's banner headline. "We've Made History," said the headline in the rival Hindustan Times.

In its editorial, the Indian Express newspaper called it "a tryst with the future," saying Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had had the courage to do away with Cold War baggage.

"History is sometimes made, to paraphrase George Bush and Manmohan Singh, by getting rid of history."

The deal still needs to be endorsed by the U.S. Congress and, in an indication of possible rough water ahead, a leading Democrat called the pact a "historic failure."

(Additional reporting by S. Radha Kumar in HYDERABAD and Steve Holland in NEW DELHI)

Source: REUTERS

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