ISLAMABAD, Pakistan?Islamic militants caused scattered disorder across northern Pakistan Monday, blockading the fabled Silk Road and seizing part of a town to protest their government’s support for U.S.-led strikes on Afghanistan.
The Frontier Constabulary negotiated with pro-Taliban militants throughout the day, exhorting them to stand down from seven segments of the Karakoram Highway?Pakistan’s paved portion of the Silk Road?and, separately, retreat from the remote town of Chilas.
They apparently refused. Officials in the north said the 750-mile Karakoram Highway remained blocked Monday night with boulders and small land mines in seven locations.
Witnesses reached by telephone said women in Bisham, one Karakoram town, demonstrated against the militants Monday.