July 23, 2002	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 12,1423

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KABUL, July 22: Thousands of Afghans protested in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Monday to press President Hamid Karzai to replace assassinated vice president and local strongman Haji Abdul Qadir with a member of his family, witnesses said.

Demonstrators, including women and children, braved the intense heat to march through the centre of the city. They warned protests would spread across the country if Karzai failed to give Qadir’s former posts, including Jalalabad governor, to one of his relatives, who come from the region.

The protest came after Karzai appointed technocrat Abdullah Ali Minister of Public Works, another of Qadir’s former posts.—Reuters