winterbadger | buried at the bottom

Wonder why the protests against the Danish cartoons are growing so violent and indiscriminate, especially in Pakistan? The BBC has a clue, but they almost left it out of the story, it's buried so far down.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4715084.stm

Thousands of supporters of hardline Islamic groups marched up to the main business district in Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier Province, and attacked shops and businesses.
...
However, elsewhere in North-West Frontier Province, violence broke out in the town of Tank, near the Iranian border.

A policeman was injured when some protesters opened fire indiscriminately.

Eyewitnesses say more than 20 shops selling video and audio CDs were attacked and set ablaze.

The province is governed by an alliance of six Islamic parties, the MMA. A senior provincial minister, Sirajul Haq, said the wave of protest was a spontaneous reaction of the Pakistani Muslims over the cartoon issue.
...
The BBC's Zaffar Abbas in the capital, Islamabad, says there are indications that the protests are gradually spreading to large parts of the country.

Security has been increased in the diplomatic district in the capital after dozens of protesting students managed to break through a security ring on Tuesday and tried to attack foreign embassies.

Correspondents say the protests are part of a rolling campaign by Islamic parties ahead of a visit by US President George W Bush next month.

Sounds to me as if the extreme-conservative groups, strong and well organized in Pakistan's rural areas and in the NWFP, who have spent the last few decades trying to steer Pakistan back into the Dark Ages, are orchestrating an anti-Western campaign (they *HATE* Western music and videos) using the cartoons as a pretext and building public turmoil in hopes of either making a horrendous scene when Bush visits--embarrassing the current government and making it look weak--or forcing the government to crack down on them and make it look dictatorial. Police are so much more likely to stop using tear gas and open fire with live rounds if the protestors are shooting at them; good on the BBC for pointing out the two-way nature of fire. Not enough of the reports on rioting in Afghanistan that I've seen have mentioned that most of the casualties have come when "protestors" attack military bases using guns and bombs.

Edit: Another possible explanation courtesy of Daily Kos through