PTI to embark on peace march to Waziristan on October 7

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) would embark on a peace march to Waziristan on October 7, aiming at highlighting the agony of the people being affected in the ongoing war on terror and to express solidarity with the aggrieved masses of the region.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, the PTI chief said the peace march would depart from Dera Ismail Khan for Waziristan on October 6 and would reach its destination the next day. “Over hundreds of thousands of people including international human rights activists, sister-in-law of former British prime minister Tony Blair, mothers and wives of those US soldier who lost their lives in the so-called war on terror and representatives of international and local media will participate in our peace march,” Khan said.
He said around 40 thousand people had lost their lives in the last eight years and Rs 90 billion had been spent on the so-called war on terror. However, the menace had not been completely eradicated.
“We have been fighting America’s war for the last eight years. We have lost 40 thousand people, and billions of rupees but the situation is the same as it was eight years ago,” Khan said. He said the PTI condemned all kinds of terrorism. “However, any attempt to curb the threat cannot succeed without complete cooperation from the local people,” he said.
He strongly opposed the proposed armed operation in North Waziristan and said “any new adventure” in the region would undermine the country’s security at large. He said the PTI would arrange for “peace treaties” with the local people to restore peace in the region.
Expressing reservation over the mechanism of structuring a caretaker setup in the country before the general elections, Khan said he was afraid of a “suspicious deal between both of the key players ie the PPP and the PML-N of current regime”. He stressed that each political group must be consulted for a caretaker arrangement in the country for free and fair elections.
Calling the ongoing deliberations between the ruling coalition partners over the local government elections an attempt to hold the general elections, he warned the authorities of serious consequences. “We would strongly oppose any attempt of delaying or suspending general elections in the country”, the PTI chairman said. He announced arranging a youth convention in Lahore to take the youth on board about the future policy of the PTI. Khan said the abuse of the blasphemy law must be stopped as all religious minorities had rights bestowed on them by Islam as well as by the constitution.