KARACHI – Pakistan’s opposition leader Imran Khan has said that the United States’ war on terror is breeding extremism and terrorism and termed U.S. drone attacks in the tribal regions a breach of country’s sovereignty.
Khan, who on Saturday and Sunday led massive rallies in Karachi, demanded an end to illegal U.S. drone strikes on Pakistani soil.
He said had the political leaders of Pakistan heeded his advice, taken a stand against the U.S. attacks and opted out of the U.S.-led coalition, this situation would not have emerged, Pakistan’s English daily Dawn reported.
The drone attacks in the tribal regions of the country, which, U.S. says target militants, end up killing more than ninety percent civilians, have fuelled extremism and terrorism in Pakistan’s Pashtun belt that have recently spread to the other parts of the country.
Tens of thousands of anti-U.S. protesters gathered near the port of Pakistan's largest city Karachi to stage a protest for the two-day sit-in against what they regard as violations of Pakistan's territory by the U.S. and NATO forces, Pakistani media reported.
Khan called for the blocking of NATO's supply line to put a stop to the unpopular drone attacks.
Khan’s political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice), established in 1996, is the fastest growing political party in the country. His stance on America’s war on terror, which he calls a war of terror, his struggle for the rule of law, justice, equality, and the eradication of corruption, and his insistence that Pakistan must finally change have endeared him to the Pakistani people.
Addressing his supporters, 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 honor.
Pakistani politician said the protest would convey to the U.S. that “we will not be cowed down by drone attacks”.
He stated that if and when his party came into power it would eliminate terrorists and assimilate the tribal people into the mainstream of Pakistani society.
Khan went on to say that it was the worst time for the country and the nation had been made subservient to the Americans.
“The drone attacks were being carried out with the connivance of the government and it was only making protests to hoodwink the people,” he claimed.
“It is a fixed match between the government, army and America,” Pakistan’s former cricket star who later served the country in the field of philanthropy, alleged.
Representatives of some other political 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 United States.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s campaign is not only against drone attacks and NATO supplies through the country, but it is also aimed at forcing mid-term elections as Khan claims the government is not truly democratic and has capitulated to the U.S.
The supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf were carrying party flags and many were holding photographs of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, Pakistani neuroscientist who in September 2010 was sentenced by a U.S. court to 86 years in prison, and chanting anti-U.S. slogans. Tehran Times
