Imran vows to block NATO supply lines

Says PTI will seek endorsement from parliament, assemblies.

LAHORE:

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said on Saturday that it will move resolutions in parliament and provincial assemblies to seek wide endorsement for blocking Nato supply lines in response to Friday’s deadly drone strike which, the party chairman said, was timed to sabotage peace dialogue with the Taliban.

A team of government negotiators was scheduled to travel to region on Saturday to begin exploratory negotiations with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The team was, however, asked to suspend the trip following the killing of TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud in the drone strike.

“The PTI will choke Nato supply routes even at the cost of its government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P),” Imran Khan told a news conference following a meeting of PTI’s core committee.



The participants of the all-party conference (APC) had agreed to pursue dialogue with the Taliban after over nine and a half years of bloodshed, he said.  “While the government was doing homework for talks, three terrorist attacks took place in K-P in which the Taliban denied their involvement,” he said. “Those attacks were perpetrated by the same forces which have killed Hakimullah to sabotage peace talks.”

Indirectly blaming the United States for unrest in Pakistan, Imran urged all political parties and people to unite for peace and stability. “The Taliban had put forward only one precondition for peace talks: end US drone strikes,” he added.

The PTI chief said his party would table resolutions in provincial assemblies and “I, myself, will request the National Assembly on Monday to stop Nato supplies”.

He referred to the May 2013 order of the Peshawar High Court which says that if the US does not stop drones attacks, the Pakistan government must deny all logistical support to the US. “We will act upon this decision – even at the cost of our provincial government,” he added.

Imran said that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, who telephoned him on Friday night, was greatly disturbed by the drone strike. “I give credit to Nisar for the exercise which paved way for talks,” he added.

The PTI chief further alleged that the United States was ‘investing in Pakistani media’ to condemn talks and support the war against militants. “Whenever we talk about peace, this media calls us different names like ‘Taliban Khan’. These hired people, instead of appreciating the sacrifices of Pakistan Army and the people, demand further action against militants,” he said.


Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2013.