Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Thursday that he had been interrogated at Toronto airport because of his tough stance against drone attacks.
“I am cool. Such intimidating tactics cannot faze me. I was absolutely not upset at having to spend three or four hours at an airport against my will. It’s not a big deal for me”, Imran told reporters in the federal capital.
Imran, who has been a vigorous critic of US drone attacks and even led a rally to the tribal belt in protest, regretted the government’s silence on the maltreatment he had received in Canada.
“I am the head of a major political party of Pakistan and my detention and interrogation by US immigration authorities in Canada is in fact an insult of the entire Pakistani nation,” he said. “The hush in the Presidency and the Prime Minister’s House speaks volumes about the government’s reaction to such incidents,” he said.
He said the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rahman had faced a similar situation at Duabi airport some time ago. “I condemned the incident in loud and clear terms when Fazl was stopped at the airport, but it appears that he (Fazl) has forgotten it.”
To a question, he said the PTI was registered in the United States as a political party, adding that around Rs 70 million had been raised from the US alone for the party’s election campaign.
“Although holding elections within the party is a daunting task, but this month would see us doing it come what may,” the PTI chief said.