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What are you doing protesting outside the KPT gates for? Go protest outside the GHQ instead.
I saw something on TV last night that got me all confused. An excited young man outside the KPT cried “we’re going to block all Nato containers here.” I was puzzled. Was my memory beginning to play games on me?
Having previously worked at a global shipping concern that manages shipping and logistics for Nato, I knew for a fact that the KPT does not have the operational capacity to berth large vessels because of shallow water. But I still called up my colleague and confirmed. Apparently, other than the occasional East-bound cargo, most Nato supplies still come in and go out through the Port Qasim Terminal.
It appears that our local ‘Che Guevara’ has got his guerilla tactics a little messed up. And here they were – thousands outside the KPT in what resembled a rock concert – blocking Nato supplies.
A lot of people (and most of my friends who attended this protest) would argue that it doesn’t really matter much since it is meant to be symbolic. Which leads me to the question: What does this ‘dharna’ really symbolise? The PTI website tells me it’s a protest against “US drone strikes.”
Let’s break that down: US – Drone – Strikes
US
Why should the US be allowed to poke their noses into your matters? It’s a question of sovereignty! Really?
Recent WikiLeaks cables reveal that the Pakistan army asked for increased US drone support. When your own military asks for it, it isn’t much of a US operation now, is it?
US Drone
So you’re mad at the fact that it’s a drone – an unmanned robotic jet. They should at least give you some respect and put a man in there! Would you rather have a Pakistani F-16 (US-donated) carrying out the same operations? It appears that something of that sort is already on the cards. Or will you prefer to wait until the time the country proudly produces its own fighter-jets – to bomb its own people?
US drone STRIKES
Aaah! So it’s the strikes that you’re protesting against. You think there shouldn’t be an operation at all – Pakistani or American! What about all those militants and insurgents blowing themselves up? And what about the TTP, that has declared war against Pakistan? Shouldn’t we be fighting our enemies?
Or do you support an operation against terrorism and militancy, but you don’t agree with the inhumane way it’s being carried out? If that is the case, then what are you doing protesting outside the KPT gates for? Go protest outside the GHQ and I might as well join you!
Or better still, maybe you should just all go home.
Sajjad Haider is an Assistant Producer at Dawn.com
After PNS Mehran attack Imran Khan should stop opposing Drone attacks.Drons attacks are big help to Pakistan security forces.Some top Pakistani Talibans have been killed in Drone attacks.
Zulfiqar Haider is 100% right Imran khan is the only hope. Journalists have their problems I can understand as I've been the part of the journalist community. Mostly they are Jialas and cannot loose their identity even after this age…??? Hope our journalist could think positive….
biased article!
Bravo. I like your essay on Che G aka Imran Khan. He's become a rallying point for all fools.
I wonder if Dawn's all out criticism of Imran Khan and PTI is due to their fear that if they appreciate PTI's efforts they might be labelled as political which could tarnish their much cherished image of being partial and apolitical. Why else would a newspaper like Dawn come up with such unthoughtful comments and criticism of someone who is saying what almost all Pakistanis want to say but can't!! I would say its better to be quiet than to say the wrong things because as far as the Pakistani readers of this newspaper is concerned, they get to read PTI's bashing here but they are not given the alternative or a better point of view by the honorable writers!
What is sovereignty by the way? Is it that nobody is allowed to kill us from the outside? But it is ok that people are allowed to kill us from within? Or better yet, our OWN people from within corroborate with outsiders to kill us both internally and externally? Wake up Pakistan!
Sajjad Haider: you seem confused. When u have no valid reason to criticise Imran Khan now, you are trying to confuse yourself and others further.
you have already seen thousands of people in his support on the road.
Your Parliment has resolution against Drones and you are telling about wikileaks, who do you prefer ?
Sajjad Haider: Why are you having so much love for the US drones and not for those women and children who got killed in those attacks.
for a change, could PTI do a protest to ask the ruling Military people and the Politicians-Feudal lords to please pay their income taxes???
Imran khan should be given the chance to run the country.He is the only man with the guts and skills to make Pakistan the number 1 country in Asia.
Very well written, you have revealed the truth and exposed the actual face of Imran Khan who is no doubt a cricket legend but nothing else. Imran khan stop folling around nation by ur sitting down strikes. iam sure that you have no courage to protest before the GHQ.
I have never casted a Vote but to support Imran Khan I will do this this time insha Allah….We all know that Youth is with him….But most of us dont cast their vote or simply cast to their relatives etc….please this is the time we all should stand up against Evil forces….!!!!! Who is with me?
sounds so un-journalistic! Instead US forces should go home and stop interfering for all the good reasons..
Pity isn;t it? He is doing dharna in support of militants and look what they are doing just 15 kms away, killing our people and ruining aircrafts.
We should realize now that we have an enemy in our own land, forget India, they don't want to play in our dirt, its our own mess and we need to clear it before it gets too late…
imran khan, i may not vote for you in upcoming elections but i support what you did.
And why wouldn't you vote for him, if you support what he is doing? Baffling really!
I don't agree with the writer. The brutality is happening in Pakistan and it affects the whole country. If one part of the body is burnt then the impact will be on the complete body and thats what is happening in Karachi today. I respect Imran for atleast coming out and raising the voice against this brutal act. Whether it's done in Karachi or Peshawar location does'nt matters…..
What we need to start understanding is that if we don't stop this fire of injustice it's going to burn the whole body and this would be extremely painful for every citizen who loves Pakistan.
No matter how critical anyone is, I will always support Imran Khan because I know he is right.
My Vote is with you IK and I thank you for your hardwork. God Bless you
dear PTI , u should better protest outside zardari and gillani house.its neither army nor airforce accountable for the drones , its simply Mr.Zardari and his dear fellows.let them instruct army and airforce officially and then will see who is the culprit.
Imran Khan has positive achievements in his life and he speaks the truth so I fully trust him and want to see him as a powerful leader in Pakistan in coming days keep it up Imran Khan we are with you.
Faraz Fayyaz
All I can say about this is that instead of criticizing and criticizing, and criticizing some more, why don't you do something productive by supporting SOMEONE sane in Pakistan. Yes, maybe the Pak army IS allowing the drone strikes but the PEOPLE of Pak do not want them, and it was the PEOPLE out there protesting against them. You PROTEST when you don't like something being done by your government, and in this case your country's army in conjunction with another. So maybe Mr. Sajjad, all your reasons are wrong.
I salute Imran Khan has he is the Man in the country !
Imran does not have support of masses, he is just doing Politics as he did in Raymond Davis case, facts proved he was wrong, his goal to get elected with support of establihment..
Obviously Imran khan don't the politics, he is showing off and covering up for military.
This is time for all of us to get together and fight the taliban and Alqaeda that is threatening the very existence of our country. This is no time to play politics and divide people. I am from Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and I can guarantee that people in my province have been devastated by the Taliban and they want the US to do more drone strikes until this evil is finished. IK and others are moaning about the sovereignty violation by the drones but are quite about the fact that the state of Pakistan can completely relinquished any sovereignty they had in FATA. The people of that area are living in the dark ages under the brutal rule of the Taliban and Alqaeda where they live and die on the whims of these terrorists. Shame on you Imran Khan and PTI for siding with Taliban and ALQaeda.
This is the last time i read a dawn article online or throught the paper copy….your constant anti PTI bias is driving me nuts, you have just lost a reader…goodbye….
AAH!! lovely! <3
IK is fonfusing the Nation,, He should stop telling lies and tell GHQ that they are responsible for drones….but he wont coz he has a dream to become PM…Khan sahab such bolain warna chup hoo jayain,, plz
Very well written article.It shows hope that there are still sane,logical and open minded people in land of pure "Pakistan".Easiest excuse to deny facts is to pump conspiracy theories,with such rock band dharnas,nothing is going to change except IK levels up in his masters book.Pakistan needs sanity,not irrational war mongering and conspiracies.
Our nation is lacking that zeal which is required for a revolution, it may be due to the slavish attitude we inherited, any way some one is still there trying to wake up the nation so Hats Off to Imran Khan.
Typical reaction of a person who is not willing to do anything.
its all about the votes
drones, abbotabad, bhata, judiciary etc. its all politics.
whats even more astounding is that Geo reported that even though Imran Khan blocked one road there were two other roads through which the NATO supplies could pass. so much for protesting!
Dawn needs to wake up especially their journalists. Do they just drift in and out? IK is doing something for us and we criticize him. Good bye Dawn.
PTI is doing a great in showing to the corrupt politicians of Pakistan, what the people want.
Imran Khan is the joker of pakistani politics. The guy refuses to accept that he is a spent force and doesn't want to quit the lime light. The way he is trying to get some cheap attention is simply pathetic. If he is truly a man of principles, he would take up a worthy cause and work towards it – instead of clowing around like a circus monkey. Shame on him.
through going this article. i am totally agreed that imran khan should protest in front of GHQ , us emmbasy & block the Chamman & Torkam Border where as all nato supplies are being done not thourgh I.I.Chundrigar where where khan sb is sitting presently.
I totally agree that articles of Dawn are greatly biased against every action of Imran Khan. What a shame!
rubbish article… seems like a teenager without any knowledge of current situation wrote this article
After reading this article, I would say, " $$$ is Power"
This dharna is indeed very symbolic. Effective or not, it conveys a serious message of hope. This time they are doing it outside KPT, maybe next time outside the GHQ or even the parliament!
Imran makes lot of hue and cary about things. But most of it is directionless and pointless.
Go protest outside the GHQ and I might as well join you!…………….nice one………..still not confident….Pakistan ka khuda hafiz
There are million plus tribals living in Karachi but no one showed any interest. The field commander of Pak Army has told that Drone attacks are killing terrorists. I trust Field Commander more than Imran Khan, who has never been to that area nor he has any statistics to prove his point.
By reading this article and previous ones, it seems that dawn paper criticizes every step being taken by PTI against drone attacks. It simply defies logics and the reason is very very simple that the backlash of drone attacks is the root cause of extremism and the current unstable condition of this country..
you r right….drone attacks are creating more n more terorists…..at least Imran Khan is uniting ppl in a cause…there will always be cynics and critics…
i am agree…
i totally agree .
I think IK should go home and enjoy his life like Mr. Haider and myself. Why to bother about the country's economic and political situation. Energy crisis hai to kya hua? I am now used to living like this. let the politicians loot the country as long as they don't disturb me. Suicide bombers don't operate in Karachi anymore, so I darn care about that. IK should go home. We don't deserve to have him. We deserve Zardaris and Nawaz. They match our mentality.
Good and sensible people will continue to make their level best efforts to protect their sovereignty, and bad and non-sense folks will always keep on criticizing. Go Imran. we are with you.
This article shows that Pakistan's media still not free!!! They want to criticize those who wants to do something for our nation….
I dont care if this again moderated by the moderator. Dawn get a life, your anti IK bias is getting on our nerves. IK might lose its cause tomorrow but one thing you should know I had the last copy of DAWN delivered to my house today. Youre a shame to journalism with such clear agenda against PTI.
Any respect I had for this paper is fast sliding down first with the what ails IK article now this.
DAWN has never accepted any pressure what so ever from any quarter and they always produce facts in proper context.and today in our country,where there is BIG market for conspiracies and emotional rhetorics,people like you are not open enough to accept the facts and logical talk.Dont stick to dogmas and personl worship of IK rather see things with open mind and rational approach.
oh really sir? I challenge you for a debate wherever whenever, I'm no IK idolizer its just his effort I appreciate and I've been reading Dawn for ages. I could quote articles from last two years which had a clear and systematic anti IK bias. Read The IK Cameo that wasn't, the recent what ails IK, amongst several other blogs. And whats the talk and emotional rhetoric here? I understand asymmetric warfare, guerrilla insurgency, and counter-insurgency perfectly well, and I also am not against UAV's but their indiscriminate use I can't stand. I would respect a jahil better than pseudo intellectuals, so spare me your progressiveness.
Imran Khan just managed to gather 6000 peope out of a city of 2000,000 humans! It simply reflects people dont like his version of Pakistan. Why cant he face the reality!
That is why we are in such a state my friend. People like the versions of Zardaris and Nawaz. That is why we are in such a condition. I am not surprised if the turnout was low. We derserve it.
It's funny that arm chair quarterbacks who don't do anything of note themselves find it appropriate to criticize people who are actually trying to make a difference. You might not agree with the tactics, but please give PTI credit for getting off their behinds and making their voices heard. Or would that not jive with your cynicism about everything?
The reason I support this protest is simple, the US, yes maybe you're right our millitary might have asked for more drone assistance but it didn't concern the people while making this request. Where is our own intelligence, our own millitary and our own weapons, why are we so incapable of flushing out these extremists on our own when we're spending such a huge percentage of our budget on defence?
We need to stop thinking of US as a rock solid allie, we need to turn to other countries for assistance as well as put strategies in place that are best for us and the people. PTI talks about self-respect and a proud identity and that's what rings a bell for me.
Pakistan has had it! How long is this farce going to continue.
It should make a no-war pact with India, which will reduce the vast largesse consumed by its military for no good reason. Then it should seek a confederal relationship comprising all the countries in so called south asia. Its people, all its people, need peace and prosperity.
Well said, Great idea!
instead of supporting, you are criticizing. that's awful.
now the fact, that all this happening around us is merely because of us, is making sense to me. people like this article author always have some excuse in-hand to stay out of any activity that could possibly save this country from these people.
keep it up mr. haider, i bet if you could even bother to go out and join any activity (to save PK) held next to your door.
well said. I agree.
Agreed Khurram. The author fails to recognize that at least this time people came because they wanted to… at least it shows that people are not in favour of drone attacks…. our destiny has to nurtured by us only