PTI Press Release - November 11, 2013 Central Information Secretary, PTI, Shireen Mazari today took strong exception to Information Minister Rasheed’s attack on Imran Khan and PTI’s decision to stop NATO supplies. She said the Minister is not only confused over the issue but is trying to defend the indefensible – the u-turn of the Prime Minister on drones. Mazari stated that there is a deliberate attempt by the government at disinformation regarding the PTI call for stopping of NATO supplies. This call is a direct response to US sabotaging of the dialogue and peace process by the government as part of the APC mandate. The message must be conveyed to the US and NATO countries, as well as the rest of the world, that the US deliberately sabotaged the initiation of a vital peace process sought by all the political parties of Pakistan and the people of Pakistan through the use of a drone attack, and that this was unacceptable to us. Pervaiz Rasheed would serve Pakistan’s cause better if he could explain why the Prime Minister is zipping around the globe trying to drum up investment for Pakistan when he should first be focusing on bringing peace to the country through dialogue so that there is an environment created for investment to come in. Even more critical, Mazari demanded Rasheed explain why the PM has done a u-turn on drones. Before the elections, on 9 May, Mian Nawaz Sharif in an interview with Hamid Mir, was asked what plans he had against drones if he came to power. Mian Sahab replied that he would first take up the matter with the US and convey to them strongly that this is a complete mess that kills more innocent people than anyone else; that this must stop and this also gives rise to complete anti-US sentiment among our people. Hamid asked again that if the US did not stop drones would Nawaz shoot them down. Mian Sahab answered that the day to shoot a drone down will not come because he was confident once he delivered his strong message to the US, it would understand and halt drones. So what happened to that commitment to convey a strong message to the US? The joint Nawaz-Obama statement does not even mention drones! As for the argument that the PTI coalition government is receiving assistance from NATO countries while seeking to block NATO supplies, there is no logic in this stance because the projects being funded are ongoing projects and blocking of NATO supplies has nothing to do with this. Nor is PTI seeking to declare war on the US or NATO. It is simply protesting the sabotage of the peace talks and demanding that the US give a commitment not to do the same again through a drone attack. Furthermore, it is the PTI as a party that is undertaking this protest not the government of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa. It is the democratic right of PTI to do so especially as drones are not only a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty but also a war crime as declared by the PHC April 2013 judgement. It is unfortunate that the dollar-funded US lobbies in Pakistan are unable to accept the dire need for peace through dialogue that the APC mandated and that the people of Pakistan want after years of fighting a US war and seeing thousands of civilians and security personnel martyred in the process and an equal number disabled and made homeless. Pervaiz Rasheed should realize that now the choice is clearly between the war-mongering, dollar-dependent US lobbies who want to keep Pakistan weak by denying it a real chance for peace and the anti-war nationalist Pakistanis who want to extricate the country from a debilitating and unwinnable US war; and seek peace through dialogue as decided by successive APCs, Mazari concluded.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 19:00:05 +0000
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