Written by: Press Trust of India
2 min readIslamabadOct 7, 2012 01:13 AM IST
First published on: Oct 7, 2012 at 01:13 AM IST
Hundreds of supporters of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on Saturday set off on a motorcade peace march to the terrorists-riddled South Waziristan to protest US drone strikes in the tribal belt.
Khan and several key leaders of his Tehrik-e-Insaf party,including former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi,set off in a motorcade of some 130 vehicles from the Islamabad motorway on Saturday morning,apparently undeterred by government warnings of possible suicide attacks.
Talking to reporters,Khan claimed there was no threat to his march from the Taliban and only the government was trying to stop it.
The tribes of Waziristan will provide security to the march,which is expected to culminate in Kotkai village of South Waziristan Agency tomorrow, Khan said.
We are working for peace which is not opposed by anyone. We want a change of the policy in the tribal areas and the path of dialogue should be adopted to usher in peace, he said.
Khan said he would blame only the government and its allies like Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman if the march is stopped.
Fazlur Rehman is spreading poison about us by calling us agents of Jews and Christians. The government condemns drone strikes but it secretly wants the war on terror to continue as they benefit from it, he said.
Cars in the motorcade were festooned with the partys green and red flags and stickers featuring photos of Khan and other leaders.
Some 30 peace activists from the US and other Western countries are also participating in the march.
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