Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Thursday that his party would hold President Asif Ali Zardari directly responsible if something unpleasant happens to the participants of the PTI’s peace march. Addressing a pre-departure press conference, Imran said the president was the head of state, commanding the entire machinery of the country and the security institutions, and would be responsible for any untoward incident against the rally, which includes US activists against drone strikes.
He said that despite all its force, the government would not be able to deter the marchers, and that they would surely reach their destination in Kotkai, South Waziristan Agency (SWA). He asked why the government was creating hurdles in the way of the anti-drone rally if it was really opposed to drone strikes. He said that everyone, including the military, the militants, and even the US administration had assured not to attack the rally, but the government alone was objecting to the peace march. On the other hand, the political administration of SWA and the FATA Secretariat refused to grant permission for the peace march, while declaring the area a “conflict zone”. Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has warned of a threat of suicide attack on the peace march. Condemning the government’s role in allowing deaths of innocent civilians, including women and children, Imran said that it was making money out of the so-called war against terror, and that’s why it was reluctant to end the war despite a loss of 40,000 lives. He said the war in the region would continue unless the government stops following US directives, while warning that the victims of drone strikes would keep joining the militants and eventually the country would be destroyed in the war. Terming drone attacks “inhuman, immoral, illegal and counterproductive”, Imran said that the collateral damage caused by the strikes was encouraging the recruitment of more militants. “Can anyone imagine what those people go through when they have four or five drones buzzing over their heads round the clock,” Imran asked. He said the PTI was organising the rally in order to support local tribal leaders in finding solution to end the foreign war, besides providing a chance to foreign guests to interact with SWA locals. “If these people from the United States and other countries can arrive from thousands of miles away, why the Pakistani nation cannot get out of their homes to participate in the peace march,” Imran said, while appealing to the countrymen to participate in the march and show support for the cause. Speaking on the occasion, anti-drone activist Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of former British prime minister Tony Blair, held the United States responsible for the security crisis across Pakistan.
Zardari responsible if PTI peace march is attacked: Imran
