We will block flow of Nato supplies through K-P: Imran Khan

[Bengal_Tiger]

KP ministers not to join PTI's Nato sit-in


DAWN.COM

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet ministers will not participate in a sit-in organised by the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI) to block Nato supplies going via the province, DawnNews reported.

Earlier, PTI chief Imran Khan had vowed to block Nato supplies from crossing through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in response to the US drone strike that killed Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud on November 1 and 'sabotaged' peace talks.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is one of the two key routes Nato supplies move in and out of Afghanistan and is seen as crucial as US-led allied forces prepare to draw down from the war-torn country in 2014.

Opposition parties in Pakistan have accused the US of using the drone strike to stymie the peace process before proper talks had even started.

Khan, whose party leads the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had said: “Even if we lose our provincial government, we will not let Nato supplies pass through as long as drone strikes do not stop.”

The sit-in, scheduled to take place on Nov 20, will not be attended by KP chief minister Pervez Khattak, provincial ministers and other government officials.

Khan has directed the provincial government to remain distant from the sit-in whereas the party's central and provincial leadership will assume responsibilities of the event.

In order to transport PTI workers from other cities to Peshawar, arrangements have been made on a large-scale.

Moreover, arrangements have also been made to bring workers from tribal areas and from internally displaced camps to participate in the sit-in.

KP ministers not to join PTI's Nato sit-in - DAWN.COM


Imran Khan's sit in does seem to be going as planned, however if I understand this correctly he is making this a PTI-blockade and not a blockade by the provincial government.

The provincial government does not constitutionally, legally have the right to stop these NATO convoys and would in fact be undermining the federal government.

To avoid this Khan is planning to block these convoys anyway but using his party.

I personally don't see this as a U-turn, just a strategic move.

[Tiger Khan]

I do not understand Urdu but from this link it seems that Imran Khan is changing his policy on NATO convoys.

Can someone who speaks Urdu like [MENTION=17210]Tiger Khan[/MENTION] [MENTION=1068]gadoonwal[/MENTION] please say exactly what is the content of this video.

Going by the comments on that link posters are ridiculing Imran Khan and saying he has done a U-turn.

Link:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202517425326914

Sorry.. Bro.. my damn computer.. doesnt open this.. Also most of the time i post from work.. so cannt open video there

[Bengal_Tiger]

Sorry.. Bro.. my damn computer.. doesnt open this.. Also most of the time i post from work.. so cannt open video there

No worries wrora, I have found out other related info on this.

Manana.

[Shah-i-Kot]

Nato supplies to be blocked indefinitely Imran lashes out at govt’s double standards

November 22, 2013
Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD - Condemning the US drone strike in the settled area of Hangu, PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday announced blocking of NATO supplies for indefinite period from KPK, urging the present government to take a firm stand against drone strikes inside Pakistan.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, PTI chairman said these are the defining moments for the nation to take its decisions.
He strongly condemned drone attack in Hangu and said the attack was carried out in settled area of the country for the first time and the US has got courage to attack anywhere in the country, including its capital due to dual policies of the present government. “I ask a question from Nawaz Sharif have you adopted dual policies like the previous government? People of Pakistan will no more accept your policies,” Imran said.
He said that the prime minister is busy in foreign visits while people are being killed from Peshawar to Karachi. Lashing out at the government for its double standards, he said that Nawaz government doing the same job as previous governments had done by secretly allowing US for drone attacks inside country’s territory. He said Nawaz Sharif has presented weak stance over drone issue with the US president added that a brave leadership is need of time to rule the country. He said that lives of people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are in danger as Americans have started missile attacks in the settled areas of the province. PTI chief said that prime minister has not bothered to condemn Thursday strike in country’s settled area added that Nawaz Sharif has no interest in country’s grave situation as he was busy in foreign trips.
“Honeymoon period for this govt is over and ended,” he added. He said that PTI will stage a strong protest against drone attacks in Peshawar on Saturday and appealed to the people to join this protest. He said that drone attacks are war crimes and Peshawar High Court has already given its verdict in this regard. Imran Khan vowed to block NATO supplies on official level, saying that Thursday drone attack was carried out on KPK soil therefore provincial government ha right to halt these supplies officially.
He said that initially PTI workers were planning to stop NATO supplies within KPK but after Hangu attack, provincial government machinery could be used for this purpose. Khan said his party would stage a strong protest on roads in KPK added that an emergency meeting of provincial cabinet has also been called to discuss post-drone attack in Hangu.
He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government would convene emergency meeting of the cabinet to discuss the issue of latest drone attack in the province. To a query will his party stop NATO supplies from Balochistan too, Imran Khan said if Balochistan government is handed over to PTI, they would obviously halt these supplies until US stops missile attacks in Pakistan. Giving his views on Rawalpindi tragedy, Imran Khan termed Rawalpindi tragedy as part of international conspiracy.
Imran said Rawalpindi incident was failure of the government, whereas major responsibility rests with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s domain. Imran Khan underlined terrorism is a stumbling block in the way of foreign investment. He said he would soon release pictures and names of those killed in the latest drone attack in Hangu. He said that government is keen to establish peace with India while peace was first needed for the country. “Nawaz taking more interest in ‘Amman ki Aasha’” (desire of peace) with India but this is what Pakistan is lacking within its own soil, government wanted ‘Amman ki Asha’ with Modi who is killer of thousands of Muslims,” Imran Khan said. He said ‘Aman ki Asha’ with India is not possible on cost of blood of 70,000 Kashmiris innocent people.


Nato supplies to be blocked indefinitely

[Shah-i-Kot]

Khan Vows to Block NATO Pakistan Supply Route Over Drones - Bloomberg


Khan Vows to Block NATO Pakistan Supply Route Over Drones


By Augustine Anthony & Faseeh Mangi - 2013-11-22T17:04:51Z

Former Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan vowed to permanently block a supply route to U.S. forces in Afghanistan starting tomorrow as he seeks an end to drone strikes in the country’s northwest, where his party holds power.
A U.S. drone attack yesterday killed six people at an Islamic seminary in the Tal area of Hangu district in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province near Afghanistan, Deputy Commissioner Ahmed Jan said by telephone. All those killed were Afghans, he said.
U.S. drones have usually targeted the lawless tribal belt closer to the Afghan border, making the latest attack unusual. The strike inflamed Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which announced the plan to shut a key supply route for foreign troops in Afghanistan earlier this month after a drone strike killed the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, disrupting peace talks.
“We will announce at the protest on Saturday that we will permanently block the supply route until they stop drone attacks,” Khan said yesterday in a televised press conference. “If it’s in our hands, we will block it today. Our powers are that we can tell them that NATO supplies can’t pass through our province.”
Pakistan’s government “strongly condemns” yesterday’s drone strike as a violation of the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the foreign ministry said in an e-mailed statement from Islamabad. “There is an across the board consensus in Pakistan that these drone strikes must end.”
Sharif Clash

Khan’s protest sets up a clash with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s six-month-old government, according to Hasan Askari Rizvi, a Lahore-based independent security analyst who formerly taught at Columbia University in New York.
“This is going to be the first time that any provincial government is going to openly challenge the policy of the central government,” he said. “It will create more chaos in domestic politics and isolate Pakistan at the international level.”
The latest attack has made tomorrow’s protest “even more imperative,” said Shireen Mazari, central information secretary of Khan’s PTI, which emerged as the third-largest political party in this year’s general elections, which won by Sharif’s party. Pakistan’s constitution gives the central government authority over provincial administrations in defense and foreign policy.
‘Declared War’

“The attack in Hangu means that the Americans have declared war against all of Pakistan,” Mazari said. “We want to ask whether our government and military were sleeping while Pakistan was attacked or are they complicit in these attacks?”
Pakistan agreed to open supply routes for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization last year after closing them in 2011 following a U.S. military strike that killed 24 Pakistani troops. The accord permits U.S.-led forces to ship non-lethal supplies to Afghanistan until 2015 through two routes: One in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the other in the southwestern province of Baluchistan.
Any prolonged disruption of the key route in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa could inhibit the U.S.’s ability to remove troops, weapons and equipment as part of the plan to withdraw most of its forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
“Current reports state, that this protest will be largely symbolic and likely not last more than one day,” the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force joint command said in an e-mailed message yesterday. “It should have minimal to no impact on ISAF’s supply mission.”
Mehsud

The latest drone strike risks further inflaming anti-U.S. public sentiment in Pakistan, where such attacks are seen as a violation of the country’s sovereignty and have strained ties between the government and the Obama administration.
After a Nov. 1 drone attack that killed Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, the Pakistan government said it would review “every aspect” of cooperation with the Obama administration.
While the U.S. trumpeted the death of Mehsud, indicted in the U.S. three years ago for his alleged role in a suicide bombing that killed seven CIA employees in Afghanistan in 2009, Pakistan said it scuttled efforts to bring militants to the negotiating table to end more than a decade of violence.
The U.S. conveyed to Pakistan after Mehsud’s death that there would be no drone attacks on Taliban militants while they were talking to the Pakistan government, Sartaj Aziz, Sharif’s adviser on security and foreign affairs, was quoted as telling a parliamentary panel on Nov. 20, the News reported yesterday.
Yesterday’s drone strike killed several people including children, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement today. Pakistan has conveyed its concern to the U.S. Ambassador, “adding that this has deeply disturbed the people of Pakistan.”

[Shah-i-Kot]

I dont know if CM Khattak and Imran Khan are ready to face the Pak Army on this, and this could mark a clash. Unlike Nawaz though, Imran has got the balls.