PTI to meet today over closure of Nato supply routes

Will chalk out a strategy which will be announced later at Officer’s Mess.

PESHAWAR:

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership has decided to meet on Sunday (today) to chalk out its course of action regarding closure of Nato supply routes.

PTI provincial information secretary Ishtiaq Urmar told The Express Tribune his party’s provincial cabinet along with presidents and general secretaries of regional chapters will attend the moot. He added their aim is to devise a future strategy with regard to shutting down Nato supply routes, following which the leadership will announce its decision at a news conference at Officer’s Mess.

Urmar said since it is a party meeting, it will be presided over by PTI’s provincial president and K-P Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser.

The meeting is significant as it will give a clearer picture of what the provincial government intends to do to shut down the supply route. The issue cropped up after Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a drone strike in North Waziristan earlier this month.

PTI chairman Imran Khan then threatened to block Nato supplies going through Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan if the US did not end its drone campaign in the tribal areas. He also accused the US of sabotaging peace talks with the Taliban by killing Hakimullah at a time when he had showed willingness to negotiate.



The provincial government also convened a special assembly session on November 4 wherein it unanimously passed a resolution against drone attacks and passage of Nato supplies. The resolution, which came after much deliberation between the government and opposition members, urged the federal government to take concrete steps to put an end to drone strikes and suggest ways to halt Nato supplies going through the country. The resolution gave the centre till November 20 to do the same, claiming the provincial government would otherwise be independent to pursue its own course of action.

Meanwhile, K-P Minister for Finance Sirajul Haq reiterated November 20 will be the day of closure of Nato supplies, adding the federal government should make an announcement in this regard.

In a party statement issued following a meeting of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) to discuss a sit-in at its provincial headquarters, Haq said thousands of party activists will attend the proposed protest. The statement said Haq told participants of the meeting, which was attended by JI’s leadership, the government should review its foreign policy in light of the recommendations put forward by the recent All-Parties Conference (APC) and joint parliamentary resolution. Haq stressed drone attacks were not only a violation of human rights, but also the country’s sovereignty.

During the meeting, JI’s K-P ameer Bahrullah Khan told participants thousand of activists will attend the dharna and local chapters of JI have been directed to mobilise as many people as possible. It also said Haq called PTI provincial president Asad Qaiser on Saturday to discuss a strategy to ensure the sit-in’s success.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2013.