Amid a huge crowd of supporters in Peshawar who waved the party flags with catchy music in the background, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairperson Imran Khan on Saturday launched his indefinite blockade against NATO supply trucks to Afghanistan till the U.S. stopped its drone strikes.
Addressing the crowd, Mr. Khan said there would be no peace in Pakistan until the drone strikes stopped. He said this was a defining moment for the country and it was time to decide if Pakistan wanted to continue to be part of the U.S. war on terror. The U.S. had already damaged the peace talks for the first time in the country’s history with the Taliban and now it had struck a settled area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well. He said this slavery and humiliation had to end and people had to choose a path of dignity and truth. He said the blockade was to put pressure on the U.S. to stop the drone attacks and he called on people to support it everywhere in the country. His critics scoffed that he had launched the blockade on the weekend when no trucks were moving out to Afghanistan in any case. The Jamat-e-Islami too supported the blockade.
Federal Minister for Information Pervaiz Rashid said the government too wanted an end to drone strikes.
