Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led provincial government on Wednesday decided not to participate in the scheduled sit-in to block Nato supply route on November 23 after its legal wizards termed the move unwise, it is learnt. Well-placed sources told Business Recorder that senior party leaders including chief minister Pervez Khattak and Jahangir Khan Tareen convinced Imran not to involve the provincial government in the sit-in as blockade of the Nato route without the consent of federal government could backfire.
They said that after consultation with the party's legal team, Imran agreed to keep away the cabinet ministers of his party from the sit-in and decided to stage the protest without insisting that the PTI-led coalition government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to participate in the sit-in. Soon after the US drone attack in which Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed, the KP provincial assembly passed a resolution condemning the attack. And the chief minister announced blocking the Nato supply route.
A senior party leader, who wished not to be named, said that since formulation of policy was a federal subject the provincial government had no authority to take such bold decisions, adding Imran was advised by some senior party leaders not to drag the provincial government into the fray. Another reason for keeping the cabinet ministers away from the sit-in, he added, was the criticism from major political parties who accused PTI of trying to cash in on the situation and ease pressure on the provincial government's poor performance to date in fulfilling its election manifesto promises.
PTI chief Imran had vowed to block Nato supplies passing through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in response to the US drone strike that killed TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud on November 1, saying peace talks were sabotaged after drone attack. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is one of the two key routes for Nato supplies movement in and out of Afghanistan and is seen as crucial passage as US-led allied forces prepare to draw down from the war-torn country in 2014.
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