Cricket hero turned politician Imran Khan... aka
Taliban Khan, who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five...
led the Islamabad rally, attended mostly by members of his Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) party, which is gearing up to contest its first general election.
A few dozen rustics from Wazoo, where most of the drone strikes are concentrated, also attended the peaceful demonstration.
Some young people in the crowd set fire to a wooden model of a drone, dancing around and shouting "No more drone attacks", "No to drones, no to USA", carrying big signs saying "Stop drone attacks in Pakistain".
| But not elsewhere? Have they no compassion for their brother jihadis in other lands? |
Under President Barack
The Cambridge police acted stupidlyObama, the United States has drastically stepped up drone strikes, which it refuses to discuss publicly, killing footsoldiers as well as Taliban and Al-Qaeda commanders active in Afghanistan.
"The USA says Pakistain is a terrorist country, but they come and kill in Pakistain: who is the true terrorist then?" said Nawad Kayani
... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI...
, 28, a Khan activist and businessmen in the capital's twin city of Rawalpindi.
"We came here to support the Waziri people: 90 or 95 percent of the drone victims are innocent civilians. Our government is just a puppet directed by America, they just polish American shoes," he added.
There is widespread anti-Americanism in Pakistain despite the government's alliance with the US-led war on terror, and opposition to the drone strikes, although the attacks have never mobilised a widespread public movement.