Sit-ins against NATO supply lines to continue

Protest camp at Khairabad, Nowshera closed down.

PESHAWAR:

Reports that claim Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its allies’ sit-in against Nato supply lines will end are just rumours, said PTI Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa General Secretary Khalid Masood on Saturday.

Addressing a news conference at Hayatabad Toll Plaza, Masood said PTI’s protest was not against Nato supply lines but against US drone strikes in Pakistan.

Masood called the US announcement of stopping its supply for Nato troops stationed in Afghanistan via K-P “a great achievement for PTI and its coalition partners’ protesters.”

However, he added the protest was held not just to end the supplies but to halt drone strikes in the region as well, which was why the sit-ins would continue.



The general secretary further said the PTI and its partners had held a meeting in this regard and soon a meeting of PTI’s core committee would also be convened to decide the future strategy for the protest.

“In the meeting, we will plan how to make the protest more effective and to force the US to end its drone strikes completely,” said Masood, adding the decision to continue or quit the sit-in would be taken by PTI’s central leadership.

Leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami, PTI Peshawar General Secretary Younas Zaheer, provincial spokesperson Ishtiaq Urmar, MPA Arif Yousaf and party workers of PK-4 constituency were present at the camp.

Meanwhile, the protest sit-ins continued in DI Khan and Kohat districts.

PTI district leaders of Kohat along with workers remained present at the sit-in camp set up at Jarma Chowk on the Indus Highway, while camps remained in place in DI Khan as well. However, contrary to PTI general secretary’s statements, it was learnt that the sit-in camp at Khairbad Bridge, Nowshera was called off  by the time this report was filed.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2013.