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Imran adamantly opposed to Nato supplies

By Ashfaq Yusufzai 2013-12-04
PESHAWAR, Dec 3: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday said blockade of Nato supplies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would continue until the US stopped drone strikes in Pakistan.

`Until the stoppage of US drone attacks in tribal areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, supplies to Afghanistan for Nato forces will not be allowed to pass through our land as the nation will no more accept the US slavery,` Mr Imran told participants of an anti-drone protest camp in Hayatabad area here.

The PTI chairman said the US didn`t want peace in Pakistan and that proved right after an American drone killed local Taliban leader Hakeemullah Mehsud ahead of the government`s peace talks with the Taliban.

He said the drone attack sabotaged the start of the government-Taliban dialogue, which was mandated by an All Parties Conference.

`The attack was a clear indication that the US had no respect for us,` he said.

Mr Imran asked where the parties, which supported the PTI`s anti-drone resolution in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, had gone.

He said innocent women and children were killed in the US drone strikes.

The PTI chairman said some people were under the illusion that protesters would exhaust and thus, ending the Nato blockade but such people should bear in mind that the protesters won`t retreat and would continue with the blockade until drone strikes were stopped.

He said it was strange that PTI was being criticised over anti-drone campaign by those, who had supported the All Parties` Conference, which called for such steps.

Mr Imran said his was the only party, which stuck to opposition to the US drone attacks and commitment for peace through dialogue.

`With all other parties showing duplicity, our workers have continued to protest against injustice committed and human rights violated by the US drones,` he said.

The PTI chairman said it was the prime responsibility of the federal government to safe-guard the unarmed people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata against the US aggression.

`This protest is an exercise of our democratic right to oppose injustice and human rights violations,` he said.

Mr Imran urged common man to stand up and join PTI in the Nato supplies blockade and said his party didn`t want to fight any nation but it was its right to protest illegal drone strikes, which violated the people`s human rights.

He said the PTI-led provincial government`s performance would improve every month and that the accountability bill passed by theKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly would set an example for other provinces to follow.

The PTI chairman said the accountability commission would look into complaints even against the chief ministers and advisers to them independent of any political or administrative influence.

He said the federal government had made such a man the chairman of the accountability commission against whom the Supreme Court had ordered action for wrongdoings.

Mr Imran instructed PTI leaders at the camp not to trouble commercial supplies bound for Afghanistan and instead facilitate non-Nato trucks.

Earlier during an International Disability Day function at the Nishtar Hall, the PTI chairman announced establishment of a foundation for the welfare of the disabled persons, orphans and widows in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

`He said the initiative would benefit 80,000 people in the province.

`Under the plan, we will extend support to 26,000 disabled persons, orphans and widows in the first year of the foundation`s formation, 40,000 in the second year and the rest in the third year,` he said.

Mr Imran said the government would help such people benefit from facilities available in public and private sectors.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Social Welfare and Women Development Department had organised the event, where Adviser to the Chief Minister on Social Welfare Professor Meher Taj Roghani and Information Minister Shah Farman were also present.