Taking a stand: K-P government finalises NATO blockade strategy

Party workers from the PTI-led coalition will organise sit-ins at various places in the province to obstruct routes.

PESHAWAR:

Coalition partners in the provincial government agreed on Saturday on a post-protest Nato supply blockade strategy.

In an official statement, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Spokesperson Muhammad Ishtiaq Urmar said permanent blockades will be made in different parts of the province.

The spokesperson shared PTI workers will organise sit-ins from Monday at various places in the province, including Khairabad bridge in Attock, Swabi interchange, Charsadda interchange, Bannu, DI Khan, Hangu and Hayatabad Ring Road toll plaza. “The sit-ins will continue till drone strikes are stopped.”

Urmar said joint teams will stop Nato supplies from entering the borders of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and the cordon shall continue until US ceases drone strikes and formally apologises for drone-related deaths in Pakistan.

Urmar, who is also PTI’s provincial secretary for information, announced all coalition partners of K-P have chalked out a joint strategy for blocking Nato supplies. Containers en route Afghanistan via the borders of K-P will be stopped from crossing the border from Monday by joint teams comprising of party workers from the coalition partners, he added.

The PTI spokesman said this step conveys to the world that the K-P government will not renege on its claims of blocking supplies; it would do everything in its capacity for the public.

He asserted US drone strikes on a settled area of the province was an indication that neither Nato nor the United States cared for the sufferings of the people or the government of a sovereign and democratic country. He added the federal government, by putting all resolutions passed unanimously in the all parties conference on the backburner, also failed to show it realised the gravity of the situation.

The provincial secretary stressed if no proper notice was taken of the most recent drone attack in K-P, it could set a wrong precedent – the US could also target other parts of the country.

The situation is very ‘critical’ for the people of Fata where persistent drone attacks have resulted in killing innocent people, argued Urmar.

Jamat-e-Islami’s Provincial Information Secretary Israrullah Advocate told The Express Tribune party workers will also launch demonstrations in Karachi and will extend the series of protests to other parts of the country as well.

“A protest will also be held in Lahore on December 9, to bring people together on the issue of protecting national sovereignty,” he said adding that if the attacks failed to stop, public agitation will grow.

Meanwhile, K-P Minister for IT and Agriculture Shahram Khan Tarakai also confirmed camps will be set up in various areas of the province by workers of the coalition partners to halt the movement of Nato containers.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2013.