Friday 5 October 2012

Anti-drone march to be halted - political agent

Newspapers in Pakistan are reporting that the anti-drone march organised by Imran Khan's PTI party will not be allowed to cross into the tribal territories. The Express Tribune today quoted the political agent for South Waziristan saying that the security situation was not good enough to host such an event. It added that the march, due to start tomorrow (Sat) will be halted on the Chashma-DI Khan bridge close to the border with the tribal territories.
Yesterday in Islamabad Imran Khan held a press conference saying that Pakistan's president would be responsible if anything went wrong on the march. He was joined by a number of Westerners including Clive Stafford Smith of Reprieve, Tony Blair's sister-in-law - and convert to Islam - Lauren Booth and US peace campaigners including Ann Wright.

Lauren Booth speaking on Geo TV yesterday
Also in Islamabad yesterday was a Russian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who made a point of criticising American policy on drone strikes in Pakistan. "It is not right to violate the sovereignty and integrity of any state," said Mr Lavrov, who clearly has a very short memory.

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