A peace march against US drone strikes led by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan was stopped today by the army on the edge of Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt due to fears of a possible militant attacks on the rallyists, which also included American anti-war activists.
A motorcade of scores of vehicles was turned back by the army just a few kilometres from the boundary of South
Waziristan Agency, forcing the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chief to cancel his plans to address a gathering at Kotkai village in the tribal region.
Khan led his supporters back to Tank, a town in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and addressed a gathering of a few
thousand people.
The drone strikes are a violation of human rights and international laws and create hatred against the US, he said.
We strongly condemn the US drone strikes as they are a complete violation of human rights,” he added.
He contended that the march had succeeded in creating international awareness about the Pakistani people’s
opposition to US drone strikes.
He also claimed the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf would make a “clean sweep” in the upcoming general election.
We came all the way to Waziristan. Soon, I will call on you to come to Islamabad,” he said, referring to his party’s claim that it would come to power in the polls.
In a message posted on Twitter, Khan said he was told “by the army that (there was) serious danger ahead” on the path to the tribal belt.
“Did not want to risk lives and turned back,” he said.
Other leaders of the Tehrik-e-Insaf tweeted the army had advised them to turn back as there was a “real danger of (an) ambush”.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said authorities had only put in places measures to
provide security to the march and had made no effort to stop it.
——————–PTI