Defa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) on Friday staged a protest sit-in against the possible resumption of Nato supplies through Pakistan land routes to Afghanistan, as the council's leaders threatened to launch a countrywide drive to block transportations to western forces.
The DPC, which is an alliance of political and religious parties, organised a protest demonstration outside Karachi Press Club and the council leaders vowed to lay blockade to the supplies destined to the Nato and Isaf forces in Afghanistan and resist the government's move of reopening routes for transportation. Hundreds of charged protesters with banners, placards and flags of their respective parties in hands kept shouting anti-US and Nato slogans during the sit-in.
Addressing the angry protestors, Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Karachi, Muhammad Hussain Mehanati asserted the DPC will never allow the government to reopen supplies to the Nato forces through Pakistan. He said the DPC member parties would not let the roads, ports and airports to be used for transportation of goods to the Nato and held the western forces responsible for killings of Muslims in Afghanistan.
He said Pakistan had better financial management before the invasion of the US of Afghanistan, which plagued the region and pulled the country down to the last in the index of underdeveloped nations. Chief of JI Karachi expressed sorrow over the targeted killings in Karachi, saying the US is behind the bloodshed in the country's port city and financial hub. He demanded of the government to limit activities of the US Embassy for normalising law and order situation in the city.
Leader of Jamaatud Dawa, Engineer Naveed Qamar asked the government to maintain its stance on the Nato supply, saying the government should honour the parliament's resolutions and implement the decisions made against the drone attacks in the country's tribal areas. Leaders of Jamiat Ulema Islam-Sami (JUI-S), Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat (ASWJ) and Awami Muslim League also spoke. Participants of the sit-in also vowed to carry out a long-march from Karachi to Islamabad, besides holding protest demonstrations across the country if the government moved to reopen routes for Nato supplies.