Anti-Nato Pakistanis march on Afghan border
An activist of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan shouts slogans during an anti-US and Nato rally.—AFP Photo
PESHAWAR: Thousands of Pakistani activists marched towards the Afghan border Tuesday, condemning the government’s decision to end a seven-month blockade on Nato supplies into Afghanistan.
The march was organised by the Jamaat-e-Islami political party, a leading member of the Defence of Pakistan coalition of right wing and Islamist groups that have demanded mass protests against the July 3 lifting of the blockade.
Party leaders said 50,000 people would join the protest from the northwestern city of Peshawar to the nearby town of Jamrud, close to the Afghan border.
But around 8,000 people gathered in Peshawar late Monday and the crowd thinned to half overnight as they camped out in a park, witnesses said.
Banners in the park read “Yes to Peace, No to Nato” and “No more Nato, no more killings of Muslims”.
Pakistan announced on July 3 that it had decided to reopen overland routes to Nato convoys crossing into Afghanistan, after they were closed following US air strikes that killed 24 soldiers on the Afghan border last November.
But only a few Nato trucks have actually trickled across the border, with owners awaiting a deal on compensation for seven months’ missed work and security guarantees in the southern port city of Karachi.
The Pakistani Taliban have threatened to attack Nato trucks and their drivers.
Members of the crowd told AFP on Tuesday that Islamabad’s decision to reopen the border, despite the United States eventually apologising for the deaths, was “treason”.
“The rulers have sold their blood for US dollars but we will continue to oppose it,” said Mohammad Amin, a shopkeeper from the northwestern Swat valley, where the Pakistani army in 2009 defeated a two-year Taliban insurgency.
Officials in Karachi say the dispute on compensation could be resolved this week.
No one takes Jamaat seriously. Only 8,000 gathered and they all went home after dinner . Good show!
“Yes to Peace, No to Nato” and “No more Nato, no more killings of Muslims" Why NATO people take pain to kill so called Muslim ?? They are more then enough to kill Muslim themselves.
Thanks for wrongly portraying drone attacks…..keep killing human beings including women and children and by calling them terrorists…more than 34 thousands people have been killed in Pakistan for this war….for sure they all would have been terrorists……keep up the saving of best interests of America and call it war for peace.
I can't even facepalm to this comment. Drones didn't kill 34000 people, they kill the people who killed 34000. There is no justification for killing innocent people, but pakistani government doesn't control the drones. It's not our fault that drones are there, they're there because afghans/uzbeks/tajiks/ughyurs refuse to leave the country and continue to kill the 30+ countries occupying Afghanistan.
The Jamaat needs to define which 'muslims' are not to be killed by the Americans. Some of the Jamaat's friends have no qualms about killing Shias.
“… no more killings of Muslims”.
Jamaat-e-Islami should practice what they preach.
Hmm they do but they also reserve the right to determine as to who is 'Real' Muslim.