Imran’s party threatens to choke NATO supply routes

[Shah-i-Kot]

Imran’s party threatens to choke NATO supply routes

By Our Correspondent
Published: October 30, 2013


ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday threatened to choke Nato supply routes to Afghanistan if the federal government fails to announce a schedule of talks with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) by November 7.

The issue of halting Nato supply is at the top of the agenda in the party core committee meeting on Sunday, November 2. PTI is deliberating as to how to mount pressure on the centre to compel the US to shut down its highly controversial drone programme.
“Imran Khan will deliver the final ultimatum to stop drone strikes on November 2 — if it remains unaddressed then the government will be facing public wrath soon,” warns PTI Deputy Secretary General Imran Ismail.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government failed to announce talks schedule with Taliban despite earning full mandate given by all political parties in recently held All Parties Conference (APC), the PTI laments.


PTI meeting will decide either to halt Nato supply routes or to set a deadline for the federal government to implement APC recommendations, Ismail added.
The party meeting will also discuss the option of military operation against militants in case the proposed talks with TTP fail, party sources said.
TTP’s sole demand of halting drone strikes should be taken seriously, said PTI Chief Imran Khan, adding that “drones are hurting the slow process of dialogue with Taliban. ”
Nisar meets UK delegation
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar said drones were not acceptable to the government at any cost and the military leadership also agrees on the issue.
He conveyed this message to a British delegation comprising members of the House of Commons Defence Committee. The delegation discussed the present and future situation in Afghanistan, the aftermath of the drawdown of the Nato/Isaf forces in 2014 and the current state of relations between Pakistan and the UK, read an official statement.
Border tension
The minister also said that a similar role should be played in the context of India as Nawaz Sharif has already gone the extra mile to further the cause of peace.
While discussing the response from India on the positive statements from the Pakistan PM, Nisar said, unfortunately, the response from India is far from satisfactory and there is a constant tendency to drum up the posture of confrontation from across the border.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 30th, 2013.

[Shah-i-Kot]

the only leader who got balls to say "f U" Kayani.

Nawaz has got no balls.

[afghan]

Like all the other paki politicians empty barking.

[Shah-i-Kot]

^ you mean to say you disapprove of what he says and plans to do.

[Bengal_Tiger]

1. I think Imran Khan is sincere and does have the intention to do all these things he promised e.g. end droning, NATO supplies, but not the ability.

2. So far he has failed to live up to all the hype and has made a number of mistakes including at first wanting to create a "Hazara province", which he has now backtracked from.

3. The "Pakistan" army are the biggest bast*ards in "Pakistan" (land of the pure).

These cruel and bloodthirsty monsters may not listen to him, or can even get him assassinated.

[Levanaye Zalmaye]

Imran Khan is a clever man. He used the common man's visceral hatred for the US to get into power. That was a smart plan. However, he didn't know what he would do after he got elected. Imran Khan used to say he would bring about real change within 90 days of being elected at the federal level. To this day, his team of nincompoops (Pervez Khattak and company) have only been doing things and making statements that ANP, JUI-F and other governments were making while they were in power.

This NATO supply thing is just drama aimed at the common man. Imran Khan continues to take American aid, he meets with American envoys (including John Kerry), etc.

In fact, if Imran Khan is so concerned about the welfare of the Pashtuns, why doesn't he ask the army to stop its operations in Fata? After all, it is a known fact that Pakistani army campaigns kill far more civilians than drone strikes.

Hypocrisy all around. And the ultimate victims are the Pashtun people.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Imran Khan is a clever man. He used the common man's visceral hatred for the US to get into power. That was a smart plan. However, he didn't know what he would do after he got elected. Imran Khan used to say he would bring about real change within 90 days of being elected at the federal level. To this day, his team of nincompoops (Pervez Khattak and company) have only been doing things and making statements that ANP, JUI-F and other governments were making while they were in power.

This NATO supply thing is just drama aimed at the common man. Imran Khan continues to take American aid, he meets with American envoys (including John Kerry), etc.

In fact, if Imran Khan is so concerned about the welfare of the Pashtuns, why doesn't he ask the army to stop its operations in Fata? After all, it is a known fact that Pakistani army campaigns kill far more civilians than drone strikes.

Hypocrisy all around. And the ultimate victims are the Pashtun people.

The problem for Imran Khan, is that Pakhtoons have given him a chance and time is running out for him.

Already on "Pakistani" forums some of his most die-hard supporters and actual party activists (mainly Punjabis) are attacking him and this is only after a few months.

He had the advantage of being fresh, untried...and if he fails, he will be seen as just another regular failed party - though I have to be honest, I don't think he is in anyway corrupt as the other parties in "Pakistan" (land of the pure).

[Shah-i-Kot]

Pakistani political leader says NATO supply routes will be cut if U.S. drone strikes continue - The Washington Post


Pakistani political leader says NATO supply routes will be cut if U.S. drone strikes continue

By Tim Craig and Haq Nawaz Khan,


ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — The chief political leader in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province threatened Thursday to choke off key NATO supply routes if U.S. drone strikes on Pakistan continue, setting up a potential clash within the country’s national government.
Imran Khan, whose Movement for Justice party controls the northwestern province, said he feared that continued drone strikes would undermine efforts by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to hold peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban. Sharif said Thursday that dialogue has begun, though Taliban officials stress that the process will quickly unravel if the U.S. drone program is not halted. The latest suspected strike occurred Wednesday night.

“If drone attacks are carried out during peace talks with Taliban, NATO supplies will be stopped,” Khan told reporters at a news conference in the eastern city of Lahore.
It was the second time in less than a week that Khan has suggested that local officials could impede NATO convoys passing through northwestern Pakistan to and from the war in Afghanistan. U.S. and NATO officials had no immediate comment, but Khan’s threat comes as the U.S. military plans to transport hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of equipment on Pakistani highways ahead of the planned withdrawal of forces by the end of next year.
The supply routes were established when U.S. and NATO forces began pouring into landlocked Afghanistan after the Taliban’s ouster in late 2001, but they were closed for seven months in late 2011 and 2012 after a U.S. airstrike on the border of the two countries killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan allowed the NATO convoys to restart in July 2012 after Hillary Rodham Clinton, then secretary of state, apologized for the incident.
The U.S. military is moving out the bulk of its equipment from Afghanistan via those routes, the most cost-effective option. The NATO convoys pass through either Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or the southwestern province of Baluchistan on their way to the port city of Karachi.
Both routes have been vulnerable to attacks from militants, and shipments have at times stalled at the border in recent months because of corruption and the Afghan government’s insistence that the United States pay millions of dollars in customs fees. But Pakistan’s government has an agreement with the United States allowing the transports through 2015, and Pakistani security officials help secure the routes.
Although Sharif has also tried in the past to tie the supply routes to the drone issue, he has stressed since taking in office in June that he hopes for improved relations with the United States. If Khan’s provincial government follows through on its threat, analysts say, Sharif will have little choice but to step in and exert his constitutional authority to oversee foreign affairs.
“The federal government would be embarrassed and be in a very unpalatable situation of having to act,” said Khalid Aziz, former chief secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “It would lead to a political crisis.”
Tariq Azeem Khan, a former senator and spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League-Q party, said Imran Khan’s comments showed his “political naivete.”
“Because police come under the local provincial administration, they might try to block them, but without the consensus of the central government, they will not succeed,” he said.
Imran Khan, a former international cricket star, mounted a vigorous campaign in Pakistani parliamentary elections this year by stressing his opposition to the drone strikes and a tougher stance against U.S. policy in the region. His party finished third in the national election but won enough seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to form a coalition government there.
From that perch, Khan has maintained his profile as a leading champion of peace talks and an end to the U.S. drone strikes. Under pressure from Khan and others domestically, Sharif has also publicly stressed his opposition to the strikes, even though a recent Washington Post reported noted that past Pakistani leaders were frequently briefed on the progress of the U.S. campaign.
On Thursday, Sharif condemned a suspected U.S. drone strike the night before targeting suspected militants in North Waziristan. No one was killed in the strike, local officials said.
“There is across the board consensus [in Pakistan] these drone strikes must end,” Sharif said in his statement.
After a meeting at the White House last week, Sharif and President Obama issued a joint statement pledging “robust bilateral defense cooperation” in a number of areas, including the movement of NATO cargo through Pakistan.

[Shah-i-Kot]

While people are entitled to their own opinions, it doesn't escape me that some prefer to throw water on PTI policies NOT because they really believe that KP government cant close NATO supply routes, but because they actually dont want the NATO supply routes to be closed. Thats an ideological bias.

Now, I perfectly am aware that as long as Kayani is Army Chief, Imran and Nawaz are in a difficult position (Nawaz more so because he is a pretty weak guy due to being ousted before by coup and his paranoia). However, Kayani is retiring in a few weeks (not out of choice), and Imran is set to become a major decider of these issues.

Imran Khan has put talks to end Pakistan civil war on the table. Had he not run in the election, this would never be put forward as an issue. The only outcome of these talks will be the end of Pakistan support for the US war.

[Bengal_Tiger]

While people are entitled to their own opinions, it doesn't escape me that some prefer to throw water on PTI policies NOT because they really believe that KP government cant close NATO supply routes, but because they actually dont want the NATO supply routes to be closed. Thats an ideological bias.

Now, I perfectly am aware that as long as Kayani is Army Chief, Imran and Nawaz are in a difficult position. However, Kayani is retiring in a few weeks (not out of choice), and Imran is set to become a major decider of these issues.

Imran Khan has put talks to end Pakistan civil war on the table. Had he not run in the election, this would never be put forward as an issue. The only outcome of these talks will be the end of Pakistan support for the US war.

1. I posted an article only a day ago or so about victims of drone strikes speaking to the US Congress.

http://www.pashtunforums.com/world-news/40297.htm

2. I said he is a sincere person in my opinion, that doesn't mean people can't make observations about his party. He is not a messiah.


3. We will see if the KPK government can block the NATO convoys. I do not know if legally a provincial government can override the federal government in doing this.

From a wider perspective in terms of Pashtun (and other) regionalism v Pakistani centre, if the provincial government can de facto nullify an international agreement with a foreign state (I do not know if there is any treaty or signed agreement but both regimes, Pakistan and America work together on this) what else can they do?

Doesn't this render them semi-independent?

What defines a national government is that it has exclusive control over foreign policy and defence. In this issue, Imran Khan would be overriding both as this is both a foreign policy and military/defence issue.

If the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government flexes its muscles like this and continues to be assertive and override the federal government then what happens if other provinces copy them or if Pashtun nationalists take power?

This is definitely something interesting.

By the way I don't care about the Pakistani federal government and could care less if provinces defy it especially coming from a country which did exactly that.

For the record, I do not support American foreign policy, drone strikes or the NATO convoys.