PESHAWAR – Over 10,000 people held an anti-US protest in Peshawar on Sunday, calling for an immediate stop to American drone attacks in the Tribal Areas. Activists from the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) blocked a main road and staged a six-hour sit-in outside the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly.
The demonstrators chanted anti-US slogans and carried banners and placards reading “Death for America”, “Stop drone attacks in Pakistan” and “No to American interference in Pakistan”. One banner read: “Listen Obama, do not kill innocent Muslims”. Addressing the gathering, JI chief Munawar Hassan said, “Why is the government silent on US drone attacks? These attacks are against Pakistan’s interests.”
The JI demanded the government immediately abolish the parliamentary committee former to propose amendments to the blasphemy law, end corruption and unemployment and release Mumtaz Qadari, the killer of the former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer. The party warned the government of cross-country protest if its demands were not met.
“No one can hang Mumtaz Qadari for what he did; he killed Taseer for calling the blasphemy law a black law and over his appeal to President Asif Ali Zardair to pardon Aasia Bibi, a convict of blasphemy,” they said. “The government should control artificial hike in prices of essential commodities, unemployment, frequent drone attacks, bomb blasts and the poor law and order situation or prepare for protest demonstrations and sit-ins all over the country,” Hassan said.
Former JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Serajul Haq, Senator Ibrahim and other provincial and central leader were also present. The JI chief said military operations and bullets were not the solution of the problems, and the government should hold dialogue with the militants to resolve the problems. “Bullet is not the solution, as it increases militancy, therefore, the government should not launch a military operation in North Waziristan,” he said.
Hassan said India was involved in the bomb blasts and suicide attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, but the “army and the government had only played the role of a spectator,” Hassan said. He condemned the government’s dialogue with India.
Qazi Hussain Ahmad told the gathering that peace could be restored in the region only after the withdrawal of US forces.
