“Nawaz should put his foot down on this issue by piling pressure on Washington to stop its notorious drone campaign against a friendly state,” said PTI Chairman Imran Khan. PHOTO: FILE
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) now has additional fuel and anger for its looming protest following Thursday’s drone strike on a settled area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
With the objective of taking a firm stand on choking Nato supplies – a move they believe will push the United States to halt drone strikes in the tribal areas of Pakistan – PTI Chairman Imran Khan called the people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to protest on Peshawar Ring Road tomorrow (Saturday).
“We have the legal right to halt Nato supplies now that a US drone has hit the settled district of Hangu,” Imran told a news conference. He added that this strike – the first outside the country’s volatile tribal regions since his party came into power – is a “decisive moment” for Pakistan.
“Nawaz should put his foot down on this issue by piling pressure on Washington to stop its notorious drone campaign against a friendly state,” he said.
Imran also questioned the prime minister’s stance on drones. “Nawaz Sharif must not play on both sides of the wicket,” he said, adding that the “dual policy of telling the US one thing and Pakistan another” must end.
He revealed that K-P Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak has summoned an emergency meeting, where members will chalk out how to cope with US aggression in Pakistani territory. “I wish K-P had the power to order the shooting down of drones — if it [was] so, the Hangu strike would not have been conducted by US forces,” he said, adding that the federal government has the power to ask the army to target unmanned drones.
The K-P provincial cabinet will announce its strategy in response to this attack today (Friday), he revealed. Imran also promised to release names, video footage and pictures of those killed in the strike. “We will expose the lie that drones kill only ‘militants’,” he added.
He said that the K-P government plans to block Nato supplies until the US in writing assures that it will halt the drone campaign in Pakistan.
PTI to fly solo
The latest drone attack in Hangu may have lent much-needed impetus to PTI, but it cannot bring political parties on the same page.
The attack took place following Sartaj Aziz’s statement that America had assured Pakistan that drone strikes will not be carried out during peace talks.
“It [attack] has challenged Pakistan’s foreign policy,” said leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah. “The Hangu attack has [actually] targeted Aziz,” Shah said in a sarcastic tone to refute the tall claims made by the advisor.
Imran’s announcement of blocking Nato supply routes is also being met with suspicion from political opponents.
“They are going to stage a sit-in as was done earlier but nothing is going to change,” said JUI-F spokesperson Jan Achakzai. Responding to a question of changing strategy and joining the PTI on November 23, he said it was not going to happen because, “They [PTI] are not going to block the Nato supply, had they been blocking it we might have joined them.”
ANP Senior Vice President Haji Adeel is skeptical of PTI’s attempts at a blockade. “I find it quite strange that the PTI is asking party workers to come for the protest demonstration instead of issuing an order to block the supply route,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 22nd, 2013.
Correction: An earlier version of this story mistakenly referred to Jan Achakzai as the JUI-F chief. The error is regretted.
COMMENTS (31)
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LET`S GO Imran Khan
we are all here to talk useless things, how many of you are affected by drone attacks, any one lost their love ones in that, any one of u lost child of 10 or 8, so how can u talk on their behalf ask the father the mother, the sister who lost their loved ones, what they are demanding just not to kill blindly. now many of you will be thinking that they cant trust pakistani agencies, so they will punish normal pakistani for that, if they dont trust if our agencies are corrupt they should find ways to check them, does this give them right to kill innocent people, their last strike was on urban area not rural so they are coming to your cities. To that sindhi brother, dont invite this menace to your province, hunger, un employment is better than their aid, because you are also living under wadairas, even all world is sincere with you, unless you get rid of those khans chaudhries, sardars and wadayras, you cant do anything even if you found king solomans mines.
be sincere to pakistan security issues faces to pakistan sorievenity .we can only strikes for nato supply to be stoped but why we can,t say that we are non to actives for changes pakistan history again in the shape of great leader Imran khan. be come forward we are all with you inshallah we will win this war of peace of pakistan is the first priority of all public of pakistan thanks to almighty Allah pak jallah jallallhu. to helps us too. ameen. regards to best of PTI pakistan kpk peshawer.
@saeed: Don't refer PPP the corrupt cant try corrupt so PPP and PML what they done by following policy for their own not for country look AAZ & NS either get freed from cases or put in hibernation. PPP also running its own militants wing how they forbade other? Imran Khan no doubt required to learn serious politics & policy of restraint. This is not cricket all about
IK's verbal garbage continues, contradicting is previous garbage statements.... the show goes on.
@saeed: ET do publish this comment as its coming straight from the heart…
hahaha...love your comment
Imran, we are well aware that the buzz of Drones is keeping you awake all night. Please shift to Lahore and sleep peacefully at night.
@Noman: Plz dont count me in the 'whole nation'...I m from peshawar but cant pray for a person who has endangered our lives with his inaction.....i think you have no idea what the whole nation means.....
@Noman:
Whole Pakistan is praying for Imran Khan’s life. The only leader who is kicking in status quo and taking stand against USA.
Funny catch words dear......you need to learn a lot and stop playing the whole nation thing.......everyone considers himself representative of the whole nation
If drone attacks are so important for our economy, I request all Drone lovers to invite USA to drone islamabad,lahore and karachi as well so that our economy improves at a better pace.
Protesting the riddance of Pakistan's enemies once again? The Taliban might as well be in charge in KPK.
“They are going to stage a sit-in as was done earlier but nothing is going to change,” said JUI-F chief Jan Achakzai. Responding to a question of changing strategy and joining the PTI on November 23, he said it was not going to happen because, “They [PTI] are not going to block the Nato supply, had they been blocking it we might have joined them.”// . . JUI F chief is not Jan Achakzai. Its Maulana Fazlur Rehman, whos spokesman is Jan Achakzai. Please correct.
Drone is an international state of art being operateted against terrorists and their supporters by an expert team and not by US army . No one can interfere or halt it's operation . It's merely a political drama and face saving effort by IK !!
As they say in Punjabi: hori nu hori di, anni nu dangori di.
IK should get past his right wing obsessions, and focus on delivering good governance to KP citizens. Domestic social, economic, and security policies need to be prioritized.
This is nothing more than a drama when a political party's Lifetime Chairman is leading the protest and simultaneously advising/directing his party's government in the same province. In other words, he is running with the hares and hunting with the hounds. Stop this double game please!
@Aysha M: Your personal hatred against IK will not take u anywhere & u might end up with high blood pressure! Give yourself a favor and come out of ignorance. Whole Pakistan is praying for Imran Khan's life. The only leader who is kicking in status quo and taking stand against USA. May Allah give him success.
There is no discussion on an obvious alternative which may prove effective. Why? The alternative: shoot down the drones. Shooting down a foreign aircraft over Pakistani territory is not illegal. Is it?
@saeed: IK is brave when it comes to drone and the US. He is the biggest coward when it comes to TTP as they are the immediate and real threat and he unashamedly beg them peace.
Can somebody save PTI from Imran Khan and let Asad Umer take on the leadership
With the Pakistani economy near collapse, can the country really afford these stupid stunts staged by PTI? I don't think so. High time for PTI and its supporters to think about national interests for once instead of halting supplies and launching protests that would add to political uncertainty and economic degradation of Pakistan.
Uncle SAM, No matter how much you invest in KP, the people of KP will never be grateful. Please stop all USAID to KP and start investing in rural Sindh. You may start by building schools for girls, colleges, hospitals, roads, dams and other infrastructure. The people of Sindh will welcome you. Just keep the drones coming till all foreign terrorists residing in KP and their affiliates are wiped out. They are responsible for the death of our beloved leader Benazir Bhutto.
IK we are with you
the following is the other side of the story(ET) Several senior Haqqani sources confirmed the death of Maulana Jan. An Afghan Taliban source said the five others killed in the strike were also militants. What else is IK going to cook-up?
Today in Hangu then tomorrow they will drone major cities(khi,lhr,isb,quetta etc) or any city they really don't care. Pakistanis should protest against drone attacks not for the sake of politics or anything but for the sake of saving innocent lives & some self respect which we keep on loosing everyday.
But govt should definitely do some operation against taliban who are saudi/usa funded.
Politically immature. Why he wants to create law and order situation in his province. You need to go to the territory of your opponent, otherwise you won't be able to achieve anything.
Imran sincere efforts for halting drones will see the light at the end of the tunnel.But prujudiced media will try to confuse the history through their mindset!!!
Most NATO supplies go through Balochistan. The US War machine spends $600 bn plus a year, the halt in supplies is an irritant. They arnt going to change their counter terror policies based on what Pakistani politicans say in public.
PTI and IK are immature rightly said by the opponents...they should have followed the politics of status co and RECONCILIATION...as others are doing..why sacking coalition minsters only for corruption charges when PPP can rule SINDH and center for five years with coalition partners who even have militants wings and destroyed Karachi peace...IF Noon can go to 90 and rule five years in PUNJAB with Q league forward blocks...then why IK and PTI are banging there head in wall for changing the dynamics of politics....In Pakistan's history of 67 years PTI is in government for 6 months and that to in one extremely difficult province but when you see media..it looks that IK is PM of Pakistan and PTI is the culprit of all the mess...I once had hope they Pakistan might change...but now when I see this nexus and status co and how they are playing there card there is no hope now...GOD BLESS Pakistan...IK is a honest and brave leader...He don't know how to behave like hypocrite or play politics..May ALLAH keep him safe..ET do publish this comment as its coming straight from the heart...
Imran Sahib: Why are you punishing the people of KPK for voting for you? Can you dare stop NATO supplies at the source, Karachi?
Somehow I have a feeling that IK will have to back down soon and that will be really embarassing for his supporters. His foes will use this backing down against him for a long time. Good luck IK.