Demonstrations: Religious parties say no to NATO, again
The protester believed that the government was being pressured into reopening the supply routes by the US.
KARACHI:
On Friday, religious and political parties, including the Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ), Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), turned up their opposition to a government plan to restore the Nato supply route.
At a protest outside Karachi Press Club, the parties threatened to block the supply route in Karachi, if the government went ahead with its decision. According to ASWJ’s Karachi chief Aurangzeb Farooqi, the government was deceiving the people who had voted them into power. He claimed that they were prepared to protest and block the Nato routes if they had to.
The protester believed that the government was being pressured into reopening the supply routes by the US.
“Why should we allow them to carry weapons to Afghanistan to kill our brothers?” said JI leader Muhammad Hussain Mehanti. “The JI will not allow the government to restore Nato supply routes. We condemn US Ambassador Cameron Munter’s meeting with our political leaders.”
Mehanti and other leaders claimed that by agreeing with the Americans, the number of suicide and drone attacks in Pakistan would increase. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Muhammad Aslam Rajput said that intelligence agencies interfered with state affairs.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2012.
On Friday, religious and political parties, including the Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ), Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), turned up their opposition to a government plan to restore the Nato supply route.
At a protest outside Karachi Press Club, the parties threatened to block the supply route in Karachi, if the government went ahead with its decision. According to ASWJ’s Karachi chief Aurangzeb Farooqi, the government was deceiving the people who had voted them into power. He claimed that they were prepared to protest and block the Nato routes if they had to.
The protester believed that the government was being pressured into reopening the supply routes by the US.
“Why should we allow them to carry weapons to Afghanistan to kill our brothers?” said JI leader Muhammad Hussain Mehanti. “The JI will not allow the government to restore Nato supply routes. We condemn US Ambassador Cameron Munter’s meeting with our political leaders.”
Mehanti and other leaders claimed that by agreeing with the Americans, the number of suicide and drone attacks in Pakistan would increase. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Muhammad Aslam Rajput said that intelligence agencies interfered with state affairs.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2012.