Sit-in suspends NATO supplies

While implementation of Parliament’s resolution to halt NATO 

supplies in protesting drones was not in sight, last night bombing

in Khyber Agency and PTI’s sit-in at Karachi forced suspension

of transit through Pakistan.

Death of 16 people in NATO tanker inferno had forced the Organization to halt its supplies but that was temporarily, a security official told Online on Sunday. Though the supplies were resumed after security clearance after the Landikotal tanker bombing and consequent inferno, NATO containers did not move at all from Karachi on Sunday in the wake of Tehrik-i-Insaf sit-in. In addition to Sunni Tehrik, transporters and truckers association had already announced to stay on strike in solidarity with the sit-in.

Therefore, the trucks carrying NATO supplies did not move at all from Karachi on Sunday morning, the official added.

The impediments to the NATO supplies have nothing to do with any government decision or the Parliament’s resolution that it had passed unanimously at the end of over 10 hours long in-camera joint sitting, the official categorically told Online.

Commenting on a report published in foreign media that Pakistan suspended NATO supplies after the incident in Landi-Kothal that killed 16 people, a high ranking official on condition of anonymity told Online on Sunday that Pakistan didn’t order any suspension in the supplies.

Major portion of the NATO supplies first comes to Karachi and are then transported via Turkham or Chaman to Afghanistan, the official said. But protests in the port city of Pakistan are creating hurdles in transportation, so the transportation was suspended, other officials confirmed.

The foreign media reports also claimed that difficult situation in Pakistan forced US to sort out a new route via Russia or Central Asian States to Afghanistan.

However, officials in Pakistan are declining to comment on any bilateral development between Russia and US. “We have no authentic information in this connection,” a responsible official said.

When asked for her official version Pakistani Foreign Office Spokesperson Tehmina Janjua said that she is unaware of any development regarding NATO supplies.

Thousands protest against US drone attacks in Pakistan

Thousands demonstrated in Karachi on Sunday to demand an immediate end to US missile strikes in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas and urge the blocking of NATO supplies passing through the country.

Activists from the Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) continued a two-day sit-in outside the city's Arabian Sea port, urging the government to end its cooperation with Washington's "war on terror".

"It is not Pakistan's war, this is America's war. This war has killed thousands of innocent Pakistanis, women and children," the group's leader and former cricketer Imran Khan told the gathering of around 7,000 supporters.

Karachi is Pakistan's economic hub, home to its stock exchange and a lifeline for a depressed economy wilting under inflation and stagnating foreign investment.

The city, the country's largest, is important to logistical support for NATO forces fighting against Taliban militants in Afghanistan.

"There was not a single Taliban militant in Pakistan before 9/11 but since we joined this war, we are facing acts of terrorism, bombing and drone strikes," Khan said.

The demonstrators chanted anti-US slogans and carried banners and placards reading "Death for America" and "Stop drone strikes in Pakistan".

Khan said the US drone strikes were creating "suicide bombing factories" and urged the government to stop taking foreign aid.

"These attacks are against Pakistan's interests. I ask the government to stop NATO supplies via Pakistan, but I am sure they can't, because these shame-proof rulers are getting dollars," he said.

NATO supply trucks, oil tankers and equipment required by coalition troops in Afghanistan are shipped through Pakistan, although US troops increasingly use alternative routes through central Asia.

The US drone strikes are deeply unpopular among the Pakistani public, who see foreign military action on Pakistani soil as a violation of national sovereignty.

Pakistan has officially protested to the United States that the strikes violate its sovereignty, although some official