...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is
Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
(PTI) chief Imran Khan
... aka
Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight...
on Thursday insisted a planned "peace march" to the country's restive tribal areas would go ahead despite security fears and doubts over whether the authorities would allow it.
Khan, the cricketing legend who now heads his own party, plans to lead a convoy from Islamabad to South
Wazoo at the weekend to protest against US drone strikes.The PTI plans to take Western journalists and campaigners on the march, including the British head of charity Reprieve Clive Stafford Smith and 30 American anti-drone campaigners.
A front man for the Pak Taliban told AFP that the umbrella militia, which is fighting an insurgency against the government and whose members are killed by US missiles, had not yet formulated its position on the march.
Khan said the Taliban had given their agreement through intermediaries in the tribal areas.
"The tribes have got in touch with the Islamic fascisti and the tribes have told us that it's fine, they have no objections to it," Khan told a news conference.
Access to the tribal areas, where Taliban and al Qaeda-linked Islamic fascisti have strongholds, is strictly controlled by Pakistain and independent access for foreigners is banned.
There have been conflicting reports this week about whether permission for the march to enter South Waziristan has been granted, and by whom, but Khan insisted it would go ahead.
"I still don't understand why is the government going to stop us? When they know neither the Islamic fascisti nor the tribal areas are objecting to this and certainly the army's not objecting to this," he said.
The PTI plan to lead the march to the village of Kotkai in South Waziristan and rally there, but Khan said if the authorities intervened, they would hold the rally wherever they were stopped.