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Pakistan gov't urged to stop NATO supplies in protest at drone raids

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, April 24, IRNA -- A senior Pakistani political leader Sunday told a big anti-US rally that the people would stop supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan from Pakistan if the U.S. did not halt drone strikes in the tribal regions.

Cricketer-turned politician, Imran Khan, head of Tehrik-e-Insaf (Justice Movement), who led a two-day sit-in in the northwestern city of Peshawar against the U.S. drone strikes, said he would also give a call of long march on Islamabad if the government fails to stop drone attacks.

“I ask the American administration to stop drone strike on Pakistani soil and if the U.S. did not stop the strikes in a month, we will stop supplies for NATO forces,” Khan told the gathering of thousands of people.

The protest sit-in had forced the government to halt supplies for NATO troops for three days as the protestors had camped on the main NATO supply route.

Officials say that nearly 70 per cent of NATO supplies are transported through Pakistan, the most risky but shorter supply route. Suspected militants regularly attack NATO trucks in Pakistan, the shortest supply route.

Officials said that supply trucks and oil tankers for around 150,000 NATO troops were stopped in eastern Punjab province from heading to the border region in view of the protest. Some 300 trucks and oil tankers are daily pass through Pakistan's Khyber Pass. A similar number also enter Afghanistan through Chaman border in southwestern Balochistan province, they say.

Imran Khan also asked the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to hear a petition against the drone strike, saying the masses have attached hopes to the judiciary as the rulers have not adopted bold stand on the drone strikes.

“The U.S. drones are killing innocent people, including women and children and a similar strike in North Waziristan region killed 25 civilians,” he said. He said the Western media is not telling the truth to their people.

Anger runs high in Pakistan against the U.S. drone strikes in the Waziristan tribal, which CIA considers as the base for al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban militants for planning attacks across the border into Afghanistan.

Despite the public resentment and Pakistan’s protest, the U.S. administration has rejected any possibility to halt the strikes.

Several opposition Islamic, political groups and tribal elders are also taking part in the protest, the first ever big anti-drones protest. Several affected families from drone strikes have also joined the protest.

Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30354287