Imran Khan and prominent PTI leaders were part of the rally outside the parliament house.
More than a thousand people were present at the Constitution Avenue, chanting slogans against US drone strikes, also calling upon the Supreme Court to take suo moto notice against the strikes.
Security personnel were on high alert and gave full protection to the rally.
The rally began from China Chowk and ended outside the Parliament House.
Earlier, Khan advised the Pakistan Army not to fight America’s war in the country.
He said this while addressing the Waziristan Grand Jirga against drone strikes in Islamabad.
Khan said that the army should halt its operation in the tribal areas as people of that region are against a military action there. The PTI chairman added that "some elements" are manipulating facts to prove that tribal people favour such operations.
He also said that Pakistan is being pressured into initiating an operation in North Waziristan.
A resolution passes at the Jirga against drone attacks asks the Supreme Court to take action against such strikes.
There have been over 270 drone strikes inside Pakistan to date.
You can view a slideshow of images from the rally here.
COMMENTS (52)
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So the idea of Superficial liberals(who are actually anti liberal, American "drones" themselves) is that since we cannot disarm them we should bomb the whole vicinity in which they exist? (Fear for the day when a similar logic is directed against you). Moreover, we are not willing to concede that it may be the case that a shift in a subservient policy may create space for their disarmament; perhaps the number of suicide attacks can be reduced with a decrease in militarism and American stooging, something in which an increase directly corresponds to increase in suicide attacks itself?
This country is surely doomed; because we dont like the zealots we'll kill our own Sorry we have no better option. I just hope(i sincerely dont, but it seems like the only way of awakening the numbed minds incapable of thinking clearly about a just and working approach in light of the emotionalism the people embodying them are filled with) a drone lands on an urban target alleged to be holding militants who may be hiding.
If there is a God, then may he bless you guys.
Does he even know what is going on in the country he wants to lead? It hasn't been long at all since it was made clear by a couple militant groups themselves that their attacks on Pakistan do not depend on any aspect of US presence and they're going to keep attacking until Pakistan buckles under the pressure and meets their demands or they die.
For someone who cries about drones and accuses the US of killing civilians he doesn't seem to openly care when it's a group like TTP killing children and even go out of their way to make it known it was them. He is basically saying he doesn't value the lives of the Pakistani citizens at all. I dare him to call out to TTP at his rally with offers of brotherly peace and not only not hire any security for the next 72 hours and give his schedules of where he'll be for that time. Your lives being valued and fought for is a matter of his own convenience. And his own convenience is wherever the bandwagon is. If it's not parked anywhere near the militants, he's just going to let you die without a fight. Also, he'll just throw you into the statistics and keep blaming everyone but your actual murderer who will get away with it like the others before him.
We are taking money from amreekans, and still calling this as "our war".... gosh!!!!!!!!
@Natasha Suleman
But the entire argument behind suicide bombing is that the relatives of innocent people try to take revenge. So a logical question is that people get killed everywhere in Pakistan, but their relatives dont resort to suicide bombings. So drone attacks cant be the sole reason behind suicide bombing. I believe that young children of poor families are indoctrinated and used for suicide bombings. And all suicide bombers dont belong to Waziristan, where 95 percent of drone attacks have occured. How can you explain a suicide bomber who doesnt belong to Waziristan. How can you explain militancy in Swat which has nothing to with drones or operations.
I say we should go to war against the american dogs. lets see what they are made of. lets bring in the world war 3 its going to come sooner or later so why live in slavery, every one has to die any way. even the Pharaohs died who were the most arrogant of people in the history of humanity. lets see how the arrogant nation america acts in world war 3. Pakistan has the capability to nuke London and Paris that's and israel so why wait and let more of our people die we should act now.
Vote 4 Change.... Vote 4 Imran Khan
MJ,
//However, to shift focus on arresting them instead of outright eliminating them will come at a huge cost (in terms of lives and money) for the army. //
So it is okay to kill them at the cost of tribals who have nothing against anybody.
Ofcourse I understand the complicity of our military brass. The intelligence sharing and all. And im sure you know that both the military and the US admit that they are counter-productive.
I still choose to look at it from a human perspective. Not a war tactic. One life lost or a hundred lives lost, it's still beastly.
And yes,
death to TTP.
Cautious,
And that is exactly why I have a problem with the govt. If you say it IS your war, go catch the criminals and give them a fair trial .Dont ask for drones. But when you say it IS my war and I want YOU to pay money for fighting my own war and im not going to catch these criminals and you can drone them, its ridiculous.
It's no absurdity sir. It's called valuing human life. Id like to know what youd feel if your child loses his life after being bombed while studying in a school in a war zone and when you hear that your 6 year old child has been declared a militant and people are celebrating his death.
How many terrorists has IK bought to justice? If drones are doing the job then why stop them!
For all my so called knowledgeable friends, lot of these things started showing up even before 9/11. Go and gather some facts about Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi. It was created in 1992 and they tried to take over Dir in 1994, long before 9/11 or even Pervez Musharraf. Most of us have short term memory or lack knowledge go and dig history you will see this is our war.
Natasha Suleman, "Please understand that a fair trial is the right of every criminal"
Indeed ! But to bring them to trial you have to apprehend them, which requires you to establish state's writ first. We are not talking about ordinary criminals involved in stealing neighbours chickens, we are talking about militant groups who are at the verge of defeating US/NATO and Pakistan together from their FATA stronghold. FYI the first drone strike happened in 2006, but Pakistan had lost writ in FATA as far back as 2002. The hundreds of Maliks had been killed in targeted attacks in 2003 2004 immediately after Pakistan Army inked peace deal with the militants, which of course had no value in militants eyes.
Why doesn't Immy Bhai visit Miran Shah, or Wana and show it to the us that's 'our people' we are fighting and not the dreaded militant groups aligned with terrorist networks such as Al Qaeda, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), East Turkestan Islamci Movement (ETMI), and diverse enough to have Afghans, Algerians, British, Chinese, Chechens, Egyptians, Iraqis, Nigerians, Pashtuns, Punjabis, Kashmiris, Somalis, Yemnis, and Uzbeks.
Welcome to the world of reality !
@Natasha Suleman: Please understand that a fair trial is the right of every criminal. Great - SOMEONE PLEASE GO ARREST THEM!!!!!
@Ashraf:
Per capita income is a measure of poverty? You need to bring your economics up to speed.
In just SEVEN states, India has more poverty than the whole of Sub-Sahara Africa!
Stop Establishment's propaganda, Immi Bhai
@Natasha Suleman: "Please understand that a fair trial is the right of every criminal. Extra-judicial killings are gross violation of human rights."
Can't disagree with you on that one. But how can you effectively bring to trial those who are part if a death cult and actively seek death? In an ideal world, our army would roll up to their hideouts, make them surrender, and hand them over to the justice system for a fair trial. However, to shift focus on arresting them instead of outright eliminating them will come at a huge cost (in terms of lives and money) for the army. Keep in mind many of the moments leaders are not Pakistanis, and trying to negotiate with someone who has his guns pointed at you is quite a challenge. Furthermore, the attacks are being done with implicit understanding with top army brass. Still, a political solution has to be found which would make militants lay down their arms, renounce violence, and does not involve giving away our freedoms in favor of obscurantist ideology.
our leaders only work for their advantage ..how can we expect Imran to be different..all r attention seekers,selfish,and self centered
Khan panders anti American rhetoric to gain popularity - but he has little substance and his understanding of issues is at best superficial. I doubt he would last 5 minutes in a debate and unlike Musharraf would never have the guts to sit on a panel at one of the American think tanks and take open questions from an independent press. . It's unfortunate that someone as shallow as Khan appears to be a viable candidate - it's probably a good indictment of the other candidates.
MJ,
Please understand that a fair trial is the right of every criminal. Extra-judicial killings are gross violation of human rights. Farhat Taj is? Im sorry but shes written crap. Which Waziristanis has she talked to? Before asking for 'proofs' of civilian casualties, she should provide proofs about her sources. How can she prove that EVERY person that has been called a militant was indeed a militant? Please do some research on human rights. Justifying collateral damage is the most shameless of things as a human being, Please understand that if your family member is niot being killed or maimed in a drone strike they still ARE unfair.
Ali,
Because theres a difference. If youre equating carpet bombing with targetted killings, theres nothing much left to argue :)
@faraz: A very logical and correct analysis.
@Natasha Suleman
Why relatives of 35,000 victims of terrorism dont carry out suicide attacks. Why dont pushtoons who get killed in Karachi carry out suicide attacks.
@Natasha Suleman:
Drone attacks: challenging some fabrications — Farhat Taj
By all and any estimations, of the total figure of around 2,500 people killed, 2,100 have been militants, 300-600 of them civilians. Even among civilians casualties many are family members of known militants hide among civilians and put them in danger. Furthermore, civilians casualties have reduced greatly after 2010 owing to better intelligence and upgraded weapons. Pretty much all the ranking hierarchy of Al-Qaeda and Taliban that have been killed were the result of drone strikes in the backwater areas of Pakistan.
@Khalid: Protecting the country is our priority, but we are waging a war against our own people. Tell me one thing, if someone in your house has Malaria; will you kill that person in fear of the disease spreading or would you try to cure that person?
You want and end to extremism, give education. Give them home Give them your support...
@Ashraf: India's per capita % does not reflect with actual stats. Very few % of people are earning that much money remaining 80% are living under poverty level in india.
@Javed
Of course they are murderes. I am highlighting the outcome of the solution offered by Imran.
@Hassan
Obviously they didn’t attack us because we were patronizing and nurturing them. Taliban were our proxies in Afghanistan. Over 20,000 Pakistanis fought alongside Taliban against Northern Alliance. Dozens of other militant groups were based in Pakistan before 911 which had hundreds of thousands of members. All these characters existed, but they were busy elsewhere.
But after 911, we had to sever links with them; or should we have sided with Mullah Umer against US/NATO forces. When Taliban were pushed into our territory, of course it was our responsibility to deal with them!
Come out of the state of denial. The root cause is the policy of using non state actors as a tool of foreign and defense policy. Thousands of poor children were indoctrinated and dumped in Afghanistan and Kashmir. These non-state actors are bound to achieve power and bite the hands that fed them.
From where did you get this figure? 12000 are not civilians, but Taliban.
It’s the responsibility of the army to establish writ of the state and protect the civilians from the Taliban and their atrocities. What’s the purpose of the army which takes quarter of the budget? TTP has executed hundreds of Maliks, carried out suicide attacks in mosques, jirgas and markets. TTP is involved in sectarian killings in Orakzai and Kurram agency. TTP has killed thousands of pushtoons, it does not represent the tribals.
Khan think that if drones are stopped, anti state elements will have no reason to recruit people for themselves. and this is very right. Secondly the anti state elements will be isolated and can be eliminated with the help of counter insurgency strategy. Very TRUE.
Mj,
And what would you tell the families of drone victims? How will you tell them not to avenge the blood of their loved ones who get brushed off as 'suspects' or 'supporters'. And please tell me how many Pakistanis died at the hands of the militants prior to the formation of the TTP or before we tried to prevent ourselves from being bombed to the stoneage. When you impose a war upon yourself, dont expect to be showered with roses. There will be lunatics out there wanting to drive benefits and persue their own filthy agendas because you chose to get into the mess.
I agree with Imran khan. we pushtuns r against terrorism and are very patriots but this war is producing more and more Taliban. the war is not a solution for the turmoil in the country. the death of one innocent by drone or by army produces two or three more Taliban.
Yes anybody who's against humnan rights violations is 'deluded' these days. Why does the govt. take money from US if it is indeed Pakistan's war? Down with drones and its supporters.
@Mj: Why should Imran Khan come out of this delusion. Its increasing his popularity
@faraz: These terrorists are not Pushtoon nationalists. Please get your facts right. We need to send these so called religious leaders to heavens otherwise they will keep on sending innocent people to heavens.
Imran saab, Army has stopped fighting America's war long time back. We are now friends with America's enemies.
That is why Hillary was here 3 days back !
Now I'm starting to realize why he only randomly pops in and out. He needs the time for people to forget the finer points of what he says which are almost completely made up of blunders.
Where was talibanisation prior to 9/11 why werent these so called taliban fighting with us before 9/11, where was Mangal Bagh, maulvi faqir and all these characters the answer is they didnt exist in Pakistan. We decided to do our masters job and for that we have unleashed a menace which we cant control and now the solution to this menace is trying to kill even more people the same insane strategy that has been tried for ten years!!!!!
Every tom dick and harry mentions the 35000 pakistanis killed does anyone even know that atleast 12000 of them civilians were killed in different military operations since 2007!!!!!!!!
sitting in our plush homes asking others to go and kill people so that we can feel safe it hasnt worked before it wont work now!!!!
He is insane to give such an advice.
Tell that to the families of 35,000 civilians and 5,000 army men who have lost their lives. Imran Khan refuses to come out of his delusions even when reality is staring at him in the face.
IK is very true. We need to get out of America's war. Its has brought nothing but mayhem and destruction and we are getting kicked everyday by US to DO MORE. This cycle of violence and do more will never end. We need to fight American pressure and disarm militants through political process. There is no military solution to all of this.
Pleas stop nato suplies and stop amarican war pakistanis dont want this war we dont want to be used again its killing pakistan and PAKISTANIS.
And hand over FATA and Malakand to true pushtoon nationalists like Fazlullah, Molvi Faqir, Mangal Bagh, Tariq Afridi, Hakeemullah Mehsud, Qari Hussain Mehsud!
Here I don't agree with Mr Khan it is our war too.We need to protect Pakistan from these extremists stop Talibnisation.
then who will feed pakistan?????
When Imran Khan takes over the reigns of the country there will be total peace and militants and military will be playing cricket matches with each other.
And all the Tribal lashkars that were formed against the Taliban, are they against military operations as well? Should they be left high and dry? Or what about the Tooris? Are they against military action as well, now that they have been cut off from the rest of the country for years? Or what of the people of Dir who have faced taliban attacks over the last few months? They are also against military action?