KARACHI: Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan has said that the “war on terror” is not Pakistan’s war and it is harming the country’s integrity.
Addressing thousands of supporters at a rally held on Saturday at the Natives Jetty bridge leading to the Karachi harbour, he said that drone and other such attacks were breeding terrorism.
Imran Khan said had the leaders heeded his advice, taken a stand against the attacks and opted out of the American-led coalition, this situation would not have emerged.He termed the sit-in the harbinger of a revolution and vowed to lay the foundation of a new Pakistan with the support of the people after emancipating them from plunderers of national wealth and honour.
He said the protest would convey to the US that “we will not be cowed down by drone attacks”. He said that if and when his party came into power it would finish the terrorists and assimilate the tribal people into the mainstream. He said it was the worst time for the country and the nation had been made subservient to the Americans.
Imran Khan said the drone attacks were being carried out with the connivance of the government and it was only making protests to hoodwink the people.
“It is a fixed match between the government, army and America,” he said.
Representatives of some other parties and civil society groups also joined the sit-in held in protest against American drone attacks and to call upon the government to change its policy towards the US. The sit-in will continue till Sunday evening.
“Whenever the government wants, drone attacks will stop,” he claimed.
The PTI’s campaign is not only against drone attacks and Nato supplies through the country, but is also aimed at forcing mid-term elections as Imran says the government is not truly democratic and has capitulated to the US. He terms the drone attacks a breach of Pakistan’s sovereignty.
Imran Khan also mustered the support of some of the right-wing parties, including the Sunni Tehrik and Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam, and the Sindh National Front. Because of a strong line taken by him against American attacks that have killed people in the tribal areas, a large number of people from the northern region of the country who eke out their living here were also seen at the rally.
They were carrying PTI’s flags and photographs of Aafia Siddiqui and chanting anti-America slogans.
Pakistanis protest against US drone strikes Thousands of anti-US protesters had gathered since Saturday near the port of Pakistan's largest city Karachi to stage a two-day sit-in against what they regard as violations of Pakistan's territory by US and NATO forces.
Khan called for the blocking of NATO's supply line to put a stop to the unpopular drone attacks which are carried out mainly in Pakistan's tribal regions, where al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters are believed to be based.
US-Pakistani relations are at a low point over the unilateral American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani garrison city of Abbottabad.
Pakistan is angry that it was not told in advance of the raid and says it did not know that the al-Qaeda chief was hiding in the area.
In the wake of the operation in which Bin Laden was killed, Pakistan's parliament demanded that the US stop its missile strikes and drone attacks, warning that it may cut off the supply route into Afghanistan altogether if the attacks do not end.
'Pakistan complicit'
Dawn, Pakistan's leading English daily, reported that Khan said that the "war on terror" is not Pakistan's war and it was harming the country's integrity, and that drone and other such attacks were breeding terrorism.
Imran Khan said that the Pakistani government was complicit in carrying out the drone attacks.
"On the face of it, they always condemned drone attacks but, under hand, they have given the Americans permission," Khan said before joining the sit-in in the port area.
"Twice the parliament has passed resolutions condemning drone attacks and each time within 24 hours there have been drone attacks.
"So there is total disregard to the democratic representatives of Pakistan, and thirdly, it is violation of all humanitarian laws, it violates every human law because no law allows anyone to become judge, jury and executioner.
"It is a fixed match between the government, army and America," he said.
He added the protest would convey to the US that "we will not be cowed down by drone attacks".
Khan further demanded that new midterm elections be held saying that the Pakistani government should resign "if they can't stop it".
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