Drone attacks : PTI to hold sit-in at Native Jetty on May 21

Nato supplies through Karachi will be blocked for two days.

KARACHI:

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) will stage a sit-in on Native Jetty Bridge from May 21 to May 22 to protest US drone attacks in the tribal areas.

During the protest, supply to the Nato forces in Afghanistan will be blocked and no truck will be allowed to leave or enter the Karachi Port Trust, announced PTI Sindh President Naeemul Haq while addressing a news conference at Karachi Press Club on Thursday.

“We have received information that the Sindh government is trying to stop the sit-in and that it will impose Section 144 in the city, apart from arresting PTI leaders,” he said. “There are also rumours that our leader, Imran Khan, will be banned from entering Karachi but if the sit-in is stopped, we will hold protests in all corners of the city.”

The preparations for the demonstration are complete and committees have been constituted to manage it. The sit-in will start on May 21 at 4 pm and will last till the evening of May 22. A stage for the speakers will be set up and all roads leading to it will be closed.

“We have contacted all political parties not in the government, including Jamaat-e-Islami and nationalist parties of Sindh,” said Haq. The PTI has on board members of the civil society, labour unions, the business community and the transporters. “Nato suppliers have also said that they will join us.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2011.