Pakistanis protest U.S. drone action
CNN
A Pakistani opposition leader on Sunday threatened to have supporters block NATO supply routes to Afghanistan and march to Islamabad if U.S. drone strikes in the country were not halted.
Imran Khan, a famous former cricket player and the head of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, or justice movement party, made the ultimatum at the end of a two-day sit-in in Peshawar in protest of the drone strikes, which he says have killed civilians.
His pressure appeared to be aimed most directly at the Pakistani government, which is cooperating with the United States to allow the strikes.
"If drones are not stopped, we all will move towards Islamabad," the Pakistani capital, Khan said.
Khan's party, doesn't have any representation in parliament, is nonetheless popular among the country's youth.
Many people attended the second day of the sit-in in Peshawar, which blocked one of the routes used by NATO to send supplies from Pakistan to Afghanistan. NATO supplies are transported from the port in the southern city of Karachi to Afghanistan through two routes.
Those gathered represented several political and religious parties.
"A drone strike made me an orphan," said one sign held by Jamal Khan, an 8-year-old who lost his father in a drone strike last year.
Siraj Ahmed, the top government official of Peshawar district, told CNN he came to know that the contractors who transport the NATO supplies from the route where sit-in was organized suspended their routes during the protest.
"Practically, the protesters have stopped the supply to NATO in Afghanistan by blocking one of the two routes for (a) couple of days," Ahmed said.
The United States says that the drones target only militants, but civilians have been reportedly killed as well, making their presence unpopular in the country.
"Pakistanis aren't animals who can be killed by drones," Khan said Saturday. "They have human rights, as Americans do."
Imran Khan sets 30 days deadline over US drone strikes
Daily India
Peshawar, Apr 25(ANI): Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan has said that if the Pakistan People's Party (PPP)-led federal government fails to stop US drone strikes within 30 days, protesters will block all NATO supply routes across the country.
Imran also warned that protesters would march to Islamabad to force the government to take a stand on the issue if drone strikes continue.
"The government has failed to stop the US strikes which kill innocent people including women and children," the Nation quoted Imran, as saying.
The PTI had earlier arranged a two-day sit-in against drone strikes in Peshawar during which a road, which acts as the main supply route for NATO, troops in Afghanistan was totally blocked.
Over 900 people were killed in drone attacks in Pakistan's tribal areas, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) had earlier said in its annual report.
The US does not confirm the drone attacks, but its military and the CIA operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy the unmanned aircraft in the region.
Pakistan officially protests the strikes as violations of its sovereignty, but its security agencies are believed to secretly cooperate with the programme.
Pakistan: Nato supplies resume after rally
BBC News
Supplies to Nato forces in Afghanistan have resumed after protests over drone strikes blocked a key road in Pakistan for three days, officials say.
The protests was called by Tehreek-e- Insaf, the party of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, over continued US drone strikes in the north-west.
Thousands of lorries were held up by the rally, including 500 supplying Nato troops in northern Afghanistan.
But the lorries managed to cross the border on Monday morning.
Another transit route in the south of the country, which supplies Nato troops based in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, remained unaffected.
Political blockade
More than 3,000 trucks carrying supplies from the Pakistani port of Karachi to the Afghan capital, Kabul, pass the northern route each day.
Nato and other supplies to Afghanistan have often suffered disruptions because of militant attacks.
But this is the first time that political protests have caused a blockade, the BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says.
US drone attacks have escalated in the region since President Barack Obama took office. More than 100 raids were reported last year.
The strikes are are hugely unpopular with the Pakistani public. Many militants, some of them senior, have been killed in the raids, but hundreds of civilians have also died.
Correspondents say they have the tacit approval of the authorities, although Pakistani leaders deny secretly supporting them.
The US does not routinely confirm it conducts drone operations in Pakistan. But analysts say only American forces have the capacity to deploy such aircraft.
Imran Khan urges Pakistan to speak out over US drone strikes
The Independent
Imran Khan, Pakistan's cricket legend turned politician, challenged his government to "come clean" on their support of CIA-operated drone strikes during a protest which shut down NATO supply routes to Afghanistan for two days.
The sit-in in Peshawar, 35 miles from the Afghan border, has blocked a major road used to supply Western forces in the country. The attacks, which routinely target suspected militants in the tribal areas along the border, have become a highly emotive issue in Pakistan, with innocent civilians often mistakenly targeted.
"If the government supports drone strikes, it should come clean and say so," Mr Khan told The Independent. "If, on the other hand, it genuinely opposes them, then it should order the Pakistan Air Force to shoot them down." Since its inception, Pakistan has quietly tolerated drone strikes.
Mr Khan threatened further protests if drone attacks are not stopped within a month. "The government can no longer play on both sides of the wicket," Mr Khan told a crowd of 5,000.
Hostility to the seven-year covert CIA programme has reached fever pitch in recent weeks after Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani issued a rare denunciation of the strike last month, and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani called for drones to be stopped altogether.
For Washington, the drones hold obvious appeal. They are a pilotless means of eliminating high-level al-Qa'ida and Taliban targets where it cannot deploy troops. Pakistani officials have discreetly cheered as drones slayed some of its most wanted terrorists.
While US and even some Pakistani officials insist that the drones have become more accurate, the Pakistani public is incensed by what is perceived to be a high number of civilian casualties.
In Peshawar yesterday the crowd was overwhelmingly young and male. Many had come from nearby regions of the northwest, while others had travelled from as far as Lahore. They hurled taunts at their "corrupt" and "enslaved" politicians and cheered and waved Mr Khan's party flags as Pashtun pop songs blared over the loudspeakers
"The cause has to move from the parliament to the streets because parliament has been ineffective," said Marvi Memon, an opposition parliamentarian who joined the protests.
For Mr Khan, opposition to drone attacks is the latest attempt at making political inroads. While widely cherished as a national treasure for his sporting success and philanthropic efforts, success at the ballot box has proved elusive. But he hopes growing support among Pakistan's youth, 65 per cent of the population, will alter his Movement for Justice's fortunes.
Sajjad Bangash, 24, says he was drawn to the protest by personal circumstances after three of his cousins died in a drone strike in Kurram.
"More than 40 people were killed, and none of them were militants," he claimed.
"We want change and Imran Khan can bring it," enthused Mr Bangash, a student at Gandahara University.
Critics of Mr Khan say that he is too soft on Islamist militants, preferring to cut peace deals with them rather than confront them with force. They say he denounces the drones with greater force than suicide bombings.
Mr Khan counters that Pakistan's participation in the "war on terror" has only fuelled further extremism, created more terrorists and devastated the local economy.
Khan leads direct action over drones
News Scotmans
PAKISTANI cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan yesterday led his supporters in a protest against United States drone strikes in Pakistan as they blocked a major road used by lorries to ferry supplies to Nato troops in Afghanistan.
Khan demanded the attacks end in one month or he would launch more demonstrations aimed at cutting off the key supply route.
Thousands workers of PTI, PML-Q, JI, JUI-S, PPP-S attend sit-in
Online International News Network
PESHAWAR: Thousands of workers of various political parties and civil society including PTI, PML-Q, JUI-S, JI, PPP-S and tribal people attended the sit-in led-by PTI Chairman Imran Khan against the US drone attacks.
As per details, the demonstrators displayed placards of demanded of halting of drone attacks and they said that only innocent people were being become victim of the drone strikes which created panic and terror in the region.
The demonstrators clarified that they love and support all those leaders who are loyal with the country, Islam and they would not only support Imran Khan but all those who are against the United States.
They went on to say that all the rulers right from the independence of Pakistan till President Asif Ali Zardari were slaves of the United States, added that the drone strikes was the source of the destruction of Pakhtoon community. They blamed former President Pervez Musharraf for allowing the US to carry out the drone attacks.
They made it clear that the Pakhtoon community was not a terrorist rather they were patriot and peaceful people and noted more than two hundreds drone attacks were carried out in the tribal areas and 1300 people were killed in these strikes.
Imran Khan and other participants of the sit-in have spent the whole night without shelter and the sit-in was resumed at Bagh-e-Naran on Sunday morning.
Source
CNN
A Pakistani opposition leader on Sunday threatened to have supporters block NATO supply routes to Afghanistan and march to Islamabad if U.S. drone strikes in the country were not halted.
Imran Khan, a famous former cricket player and the head of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, or justice movement party, made the ultimatum at the end of a two-day sit-in in Peshawar in protest of the drone strikes, which he says have killed civilians.
His pressure appeared to be aimed most directly at the Pakistani government, which is cooperating with the United States to allow the strikes.
"If drones are not stopped, we all will move towards Islamabad," the Pakistani capital, Khan said.
Khan's party, doesn't have any representation in parliament, is nonetheless popular among the country's youth.
Many people attended the second day of the sit-in in Peshawar, which blocked one of the routes used by NATO to send supplies from Pakistan to Afghanistan. NATO supplies are transported from the port in the southern city of Karachi to Afghanistan through two routes.
Those gathered represented several political and religious parties.
"A drone strike made me an orphan," said one sign held by Jamal Khan, an 8-year-old who lost his father in a drone strike last year.
Siraj Ahmed, the top government official of Peshawar district, told CNN he came to know that the contractors who transport the NATO supplies from the route where sit-in was organized suspended their routes during the protest.
"Practically, the protesters have stopped the supply to NATO in Afghanistan by blocking one of the two routes for (a) couple of days," Ahmed said.
The United States says that the drones target only militants, but civilians have been reportedly killed as well, making their presence unpopular in the country.
"Pakistanis aren't animals who can be killed by drones," Khan said Saturday. "They have human rights, as Americans do."
Imran Khan sets 30 days deadline over US drone strikes
Daily India
Peshawar, Apr 25(ANI): Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan has said that if the Pakistan People's Party (PPP)-led federal government fails to stop US drone strikes within 30 days, protesters will block all NATO supply routes across the country.
Imran also warned that protesters would march to Islamabad to force the government to take a stand on the issue if drone strikes continue.
"The government has failed to stop the US strikes which kill innocent people including women and children," the Nation quoted Imran, as saying.
The PTI had earlier arranged a two-day sit-in against drone strikes in Peshawar during which a road, which acts as the main supply route for NATO, troops in Afghanistan was totally blocked.
Over 900 people were killed in drone attacks in Pakistan's tribal areas, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) had earlier said in its annual report.
The US does not confirm the drone attacks, but its military and the CIA operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy the unmanned aircraft in the region.
Pakistan officially protests the strikes as violations of its sovereignty, but its security agencies are believed to secretly cooperate with the programme.
Pakistan: Nato supplies resume after rally
BBC News
Supplies to Nato forces in Afghanistan have resumed after protests over drone strikes blocked a key road in Pakistan for three days, officials say.
The protests was called by Tehreek-e- Insaf, the party of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, over continued US drone strikes in the north-west.
Thousands of lorries were held up by the rally, including 500 supplying Nato troops in northern Afghanistan.
But the lorries managed to cross the border on Monday morning.
Another transit route in the south of the country, which supplies Nato troops based in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, remained unaffected.
Political blockade
More than 3,000 trucks carrying supplies from the Pakistani port of Karachi to the Afghan capital, Kabul, pass the northern route each day.
Nato and other supplies to Afghanistan have often suffered disruptions because of militant attacks.
But this is the first time that political protests have caused a blockade, the BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says.
US drone attacks have escalated in the region since President Barack Obama took office. More than 100 raids were reported last year.
The strikes are are hugely unpopular with the Pakistani public. Many militants, some of them senior, have been killed in the raids, but hundreds of civilians have also died.
Correspondents say they have the tacit approval of the authorities, although Pakistani leaders deny secretly supporting them.
The US does not routinely confirm it conducts drone operations in Pakistan. But analysts say only American forces have the capacity to deploy such aircraft.
Imran Khan urges Pakistan to speak out over US drone strikes
The Independent
Imran Khan, Pakistan's cricket legend turned politician, challenged his government to "come clean" on their support of CIA-operated drone strikes during a protest which shut down NATO supply routes to Afghanistan for two days.
The sit-in in Peshawar, 35 miles from the Afghan border, has blocked a major road used to supply Western forces in the country. The attacks, which routinely target suspected militants in the tribal areas along the border, have become a highly emotive issue in Pakistan, with innocent civilians often mistakenly targeted.
"If the government supports drone strikes, it should come clean and say so," Mr Khan told The Independent. "If, on the other hand, it genuinely opposes them, then it should order the Pakistan Air Force to shoot them down." Since its inception, Pakistan has quietly tolerated drone strikes.
Mr Khan threatened further protests if drone attacks are not stopped within a month. "The government can no longer play on both sides of the wicket," Mr Khan told a crowd of 5,000.
Hostility to the seven-year covert CIA programme has reached fever pitch in recent weeks after Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani issued a rare denunciation of the strike last month, and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani called for drones to be stopped altogether.
For Washington, the drones hold obvious appeal. They are a pilotless means of eliminating high-level al-Qa'ida and Taliban targets where it cannot deploy troops. Pakistani officials have discreetly cheered as drones slayed some of its most wanted terrorists.
While US and even some Pakistani officials insist that the drones have become more accurate, the Pakistani public is incensed by what is perceived to be a high number of civilian casualties.
In Peshawar yesterday the crowd was overwhelmingly young and male. Many had come from nearby regions of the northwest, while others had travelled from as far as Lahore. They hurled taunts at their "corrupt" and "enslaved" politicians and cheered and waved Mr Khan's party flags as Pashtun pop songs blared over the loudspeakers
"The cause has to move from the parliament to the streets because parliament has been ineffective," said Marvi Memon, an opposition parliamentarian who joined the protests.
For Mr Khan, opposition to drone attacks is the latest attempt at making political inroads. While widely cherished as a national treasure for his sporting success and philanthropic efforts, success at the ballot box has proved elusive. But he hopes growing support among Pakistan's youth, 65 per cent of the population, will alter his Movement for Justice's fortunes.
Sajjad Bangash, 24, says he was drawn to the protest by personal circumstances after three of his cousins died in a drone strike in Kurram.
"More than 40 people were killed, and none of them were militants," he claimed.
"We want change and Imran Khan can bring it," enthused Mr Bangash, a student at Gandahara University.
Critics of Mr Khan say that he is too soft on Islamist militants, preferring to cut peace deals with them rather than confront them with force. They say he denounces the drones with greater force than suicide bombings.
Mr Khan counters that Pakistan's participation in the "war on terror" has only fuelled further extremism, created more terrorists and devastated the local economy.
Khan leads direct action over drones
News Scotmans
PAKISTANI cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan yesterday led his supporters in a protest against United States drone strikes in Pakistan as they blocked a major road used by lorries to ferry supplies to Nato troops in Afghanistan.
Khan demanded the attacks end in one month or he would launch more demonstrations aimed at cutting off the key supply route.
Thousands workers of PTI, PML-Q, JI, JUI-S, PPP-S attend sit-in
Online International News Network
PESHAWAR: Thousands of workers of various political parties and civil society including PTI, PML-Q, JUI-S, JI, PPP-S and tribal people attended the sit-in led-by PTI Chairman Imran Khan against the US drone attacks.
As per details, the demonstrators displayed placards of demanded of halting of drone attacks and they said that only innocent people were being become victim of the drone strikes which created panic and terror in the region.
The demonstrators clarified that they love and support all those leaders who are loyal with the country, Islam and they would not only support Imran Khan but all those who are against the United States.
They went on to say that all the rulers right from the independence of Pakistan till President Asif Ali Zardari were slaves of the United States, added that the drone strikes was the source of the destruction of Pakhtoon community. They blamed former President Pervez Musharraf for allowing the US to carry out the drone attacks.
They made it clear that the Pakhtoon community was not a terrorist rather they were patriot and peaceful people and noted more than two hundreds drone attacks were carried out in the tribal areas and 1300 people were killed in these strikes.
Imran Khan and other participants of the sit-in have spent the whole night without shelter and the sit-in was resumed at Bagh-e-Naran on Sunday morning.
Source
