Delawar Jan
PESHAWAR: Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) continued its sit-in on Monday for the second day at
different points in the province and brought Nato supplies to an almost
complete halt, as trucks with supplies for foreign forces hardly managed to
arrive in Peshawar.
The PTI workers were
not deterred by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief’s directives to his force to
act against them if they forced trucks to stop and checked documents.
Police officials continued
to act as spectators as PTI workers stopped every container-laden truck and
checked shipment documents to make sure no Nato truck passed.
Trucks taking supplies
for Nato forces in Afghanistan have stranded in different cities across the
country due to PTI sit-ins that made its campaign to stop the shipments
successful. PTI claimed its workers stopped ‘dozens of Nato trucks’ at
Khairabad in Nowshera, Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat and Peshawar. Nato trucks did
not arrive in Peshawar on Monday, the day the protest intensified as PTI was
joined by workers of its coalition partner, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).
In a raucous manner,
they forced a container-loaded truck to return on suspicion of being supplied
for Nato. As the truck arrived at the toll plaza on the Ring Road, where PTI
workers have camped, shouts erupted: “This is Nato container.” The workers
converged on the truck and forced the driver to show documents. They let the
vehicle go after reaching the conclusion that it was not meant for Nato forces.
“He cheated us by
showing forged documents. This is a Nato truck,” several workers shouted as the
vehicle moved a few metres ahead. The crowd of workers again stopped the truck,
forced the driver to get off and demanded documents. They checked the seal on
the container and asked the driver to break it so that they could see what was
inside. When the trucker refused, an activist occupied the driver’s seat. As
the driver could not convince the angry workers, the container was returned.
“This is a transit
truck,” a police officer murmured, helplessly. “If these people return it, they
(Afghans) will send back ours,” he worried. He just looked on helplessly and
refused to talk about the order by inspector general of police to act against PTI
workers if they forced vehicles to stop or checked documents.
The unpleasant handling
of the driver also caused division among the protesters as the leaders were
opposed to the use of force. After the truck was returned, Younas Zaheer, a PTI
office-bearer who is leading the sit-in, addressed the workers and asked them
not to rough up the drivers. “Don’t break the seals,” another activist chipped
in. However, Zaheer insisted the returned truck was taking supplies to the Nato
forces.
PTI’s decision to force
blockade of Nato supplies has pitted it against the local administration that
is facing legal questions, the federal government that is not happy with the
protest and the US that is financing several projects in the province.
The local
administration is under pressure to act against the ‘illegal actions’ of the
PTI workers. PTI Chairman Imran Khan and Federal Minister for Information
Senator Pervez Rashid have already exchanged hostile statements. With regard to
the US, provincial ministers protested outside the US Consulate General in
Peshawar and chanted slogans. They presented a memorandum to an official of the
Consulate General to protest the drone attack in Hangu, a settled district that
falls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
On Monday, JI joined
the PTI sit-ins in Peshawar and vowed to paralyse movement of Nato supplies. JI
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Secretary General Shabbir Ahmad Khan threatened to launch
sit-ins at airports if air cargo for Nato forces in Afghanistan was started. Talking
to media at Motorway Interchange camp, he asked people to support the protest
for the sake of national honour. He asked the provincial government to quash FIR
against the workers of PTI and its allied parties.
Daud Ishtiaq, a JI
worker at the toll plaza camp on Ring Road, said the party leaders instructed
them to join the sit-in and 30 workers came to participate. “We will sit with
them as long as they are here,” he said.
Jam Muhammad, a PTI
worker who wore a cap made of party flag, said he came from Gulbahar as it was
their turn on Monday. He said they stopped vehicles and checked documents to
ascertain the identity of trucks. Another worker, Qaiser Khan who hailed from
the same locality in PK-2, said he spent from his own pocket as the party did
not provide food.“I think this sit-in may not force the US to stop drone
strikes,” he said. “But this is what we can do,” he added. He said PPP
government had stopped supplies for months but it did not produce the desired
results. He criticised Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for failing to honour his
election promise that he would stop drone strikes after coming into power.
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