Braving bitter cold weather dozens of Pakistanis and their fellow Americans staged a demonstration in front of the United Nations (UN) building demanding an end to US drone attacks on Pakistan’s territory.
Shouting ‘Drones Fly Children Die’ they carried placards, saying that the remotely controlled aircraft violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan and called on President Barack Obama to stop the campaign.
Speakers at the gathering condemned the killings of civilians especially children by drone attacks that they said were against international law. Some of those who addressed the protesters especially asked the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to take steps to ban the weapon.
Pakistan US Freedom Forum’s Comrade Shahid, PTI’s Zaman Afridi and Muzzamil Anwar as well as a representative of CODEPINK, a US organization, spoke on the occasion. The Jamaat-e-Islami activists also joined the rally.
Meanwhile, PTI’s sit-in to block NATO supply routes continued for the eighth consecutive day on Saturday.
Hundreds of women supporters along with their children participated in the protests. The JI women workers said that they had come along with their children to prove that the whole nation, including women and kids, was against the drone strikes.
The women protesters checked documents of transport vehicles carrying containers and shouted anti-US slogans. The PTI protesters said that they would follow Imran Khan’s directives and continue protests until the missile strikes are stopped on Pakistan’s soil.
