PTI IS ALARMED AT FREE RUN BEING GIVEN TO US FOR DRONE STRIKES IN PAKISTAN
DRONE STRIKES HAVE ONLY INCREASED MILITANCY: IMRAN KHAN
LAHORE:
JANUARY 21, 2013. Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf has noticed with great
concern reports in the US media that Pakistani government has given a
free run to the United States to conduct drone strikes on Pakistani
territory. In a press release issued from the Central Media Cell,
Lahore, the party expressed its deep consternation at the continuing
drone strikes and the contemplated increase in them. “These strikes have
not reduced militancy; in fact are a major stimulant to terrorism” said
Chairman PTI Mr. Imran Khan. “This particular fact has even been
pointed out by studies carried out Stanford and New York University law
schools. Most neutral observers have also come to a similar conclusion.”
He continued.
Mr.
Imran Khan said that in the last eight years nearly 360 strikes have
been carried out with a large proportion, over 300 during the tenure of
the Obama Administration. A conservative estimate according to him is
that nearly four thousand people have been killed including a large
proportion of noncombatants, women and children. By one estimate over
200 of those killed are children. These bare statistics by themselves
tell a story not only of tragedies for the people of FATA but why there
has been a huge increase in militancy.
While
commenting on continuing attacks on our troops and horrendous terrorist
attacks in different cities, Mr. Imran Khan said that the perception
that Pakistan is partner of the US in these tragic drone strikes has
hugely contributed to it. He said that the US link has provided the
militants with a Jihadi narrative where they have been able to paint
this struggle as between Islam and infidels. “Unless we get out of this
partnership with the United States, hard core nucleus of militancy will
continue to use it as a motivational tool for preparing suicide bombers.
It is the suicide bombers that have resulted in the tragedy of nearly
forty thousand people being martyred in Pakistan”. Drone strikes he
said are the single most visible manifestation of US aggression for the
people of FATA and they must end.
Mr
Imran Khan also lambasted the Pakistani government for not standing up
for the protection of its sovereignty and in fact becoming a willing
partner in the carnage that is continuing to kill innocent men women and
children in FATA. “This war and the tragedies that ensue as a result of
it would never end if we do not dispassionately analyse the causes
behind it” said Chairman PTI. The single most important factor in this
militancy gaining strength are the drone strikes which remind people in
FATA daily of Pakistan’s acquiescence in them, he continued.
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