PESHAWAR: Jamaat-i-Islaami, partner of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led ruling coalition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Tuesday announced to block the main Nato supply route in Peshawar on next Friday (Nov 8).

JI Peshawar district chief Behrullah Khan told a news conference here that thousands of party workers and supporters would block main supply route for Afghanistan-based Nato forces on Kohat Road and Ring Road Chowk at 2pm on Friday by staging a sit-in. He said senior provincial minister Sirajul Haq, JI central general secretary Liaquat Baloch and provincial chief Professor Mohammad Ibrahim would lead the sit-in.

Mr Behrullah appealed to the Taliban not to reject the proposed peace talks with the government and said his party was ready to facilitate the talks.

He said Taliban leader Hakeemullah Mehsud was ‘martyred’ in the US drone attack along with his commanders and that the US had tried to sabotage the peace process.

The JI leader said if Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain was killed in the US drone strike, his party would declare him, too, ‘martyr’.

He said his party considered Benazir Bhutto and Bashir Ahmad Bilour ‘martyrs’.

KP GOVT DECISION AFTER 20TH: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Shah Farman on Tuesday said the federal government had the time until November 20 to finalise plan for negotiations with the Taliban otherwise Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf being a political party heading the provincial government was free to take own decision in this respect.

During a news conference at the Civil Officers’ Mess here, he said the US drone strikes in the country’s northwestern tribal areas was a national issue and PTI would not use it to score political points.

He said political parties should show unity on the issue.

“In the past, PTI stopped supplies to Nato forces for three days and can do it again,” he said, when asked about future line of action of the provincial government if the centre did not act upon the resolution passed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly unanimously on Monday.

Mr Farman said political parties were free to make own decisions.

He said if the federal government didn’t work out plan to start dialogue with the Taliban, then PTI would decide its line of action,” he said.

The minister said the All Parties Conference meant that the whole nation had given the mandate to the centre to begin talks with the Taliban.

He said being a sovereign country, Pakistan had the right to resolve its internal issues and protect its sovereignty.

“Being a nuclear state with 180 million population and the world’s sixth largest army, we should not be afraid of the US,” he said.

Mr Farman said during a recent visit to Washington, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had conveyed his concerns to President Obama about drone strikes.

He appreciated the statement of Afghan President Hamid Karzai against the Nov 1 killing of Hakeemullah Mehsud in the US drone strike in North Waziristan Agency.

“This was an attack on peace process,” he said without mentioning the name of the Taliban leader.

He said PTI wanted implementation of the APC decision in letter and spirit for peace.