Islamabad: Security forces on Sunday turned back from the border of South Waziristan tribal region in the north-west thousands of peace marchers protesting US drone attacks, but Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan, who led the convoy, said their mission has been achieved.
After being barred from entering the tribal area because of security risks in the former Taliban stronghold till the 2009 military operation that drove them out, the participants of the ‘peace march’ returned to Tank, a nearby dusty town, where Imran addressed a large emotional crowd.
“Our mission has been successful. We have put the issue of drone attacks centre stage globally, with the international media focusing on it,” Imran said, pointing out that among the participants were many foreign civil society members and media people including around 30 US citizens.
Slogans displayed by foreign peace activists denounced drone attacks, which have left thousands of people dead in South and North Waziristan since 2004, with less than 200 among them said to be militants, according to reports.
“Drones fly — Children die,” read a placard carried by an American woman.
Earlier, the convoy of hundreds of vehicles arrived at Tank from the city of Dera Ismail Khan where they had reached late Saturday from Islamabad, travelling hundreds of kilometres. They received warm welcome en route from wayside gatherings and more people joined the march.
Imran, in his Tank address marking incident-free end of the march, said they came for peaceful protest and did not want any clash with the administration or security forces, although the participants faced hurdles put up at three points on the dirt road to Tank by placing trailers, which were moved by the crowd to make way.
“We have been successful; our voice has reached the world,” he exclaimed, condemning the drone strikes and the crowd raised hands in affirmation when he asked whether they denounce the “brutal campaign.”
The former cricket hero-turned-politician said the drone raids “are blatant violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and human rights of its people and the international law”.
“These attacks whip up hatred against the US and create more militants by killing innocent men, women and children in the tribal belt,” he said, adding that tribes were proud people and could not be cowed down by drone strikes.
Imran asked the Pakistan government to give up its policy of saying one thing to the Americans behind closed doors and another to its own countrymen — a reference to US media reports that the drone strikes had tacit approval of Islamabad, a claim strongly denied by government leaders.
The PTI leader said no other party in Pakistan had the courage to organise such a peace march to the tribal land.
Accusing the government of being servile to Washington’s dictation, Imran said “US is not god” and asked President Asif Ali Zardari “to stop idol worship”.
Medea Benjamin, leader of a delegation from the US peace group CodePink, apologised for the drone attacks, saying: “We are so grateful that you understand there are Americans in solidarity with you and against our government policy.”
However, the US peace campaigners left the convoy before it reached Tank with their spokeswoman saying they felt they had achieved their goal.
Another American peace activist said: “We are being lied to by our government as they say we are not killing innocent people. The illegal US occupation of Afghanistan must come to an end as it is root of many problems in the region.”
Reports said were some 15,000 people in the streets of Tank to greet the peace march...
Clive Stafford Smith, the British head of the legal lobby group Reprieve, said earlier that whether or not the group reached its intended destination was irrelevant. “It’s already a wonderful success,” he told reporters.
Missiles fired by US drones routinely target militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) in what US officials say is a key weapon in the ‘war on terror’.
Pakistan says the attacks are counter-productive and constitute reckless violation of its sovereignty. The country’s parliament and the government has been demanding an end to drone incursions.
