Religious groups seek route closure
Pakistani religious groups have threatened to march on the Afghan border to pressurise the government to block the Nato supplies to Afghanistan once again.
Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) leaders — who swarmed Islamabad on Monday night with around 30,000 supporters — said the government will have to block the Nato supplies or quit power.
The DPC activists had launched a “long march” from Lahore on Sunday to protest against the government’s decision to reopen Nato supplies.
Pakistan reopened the Nato supplies to Afghanistan last week after about eight months as the US pledged to release blocked funds.
Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar met US secretary of state Hillary Clinton in Tokyo on Sunday to discuss future ties. Both the top diplomats pledged to look to the future challenges and burry the past.
The Difa-e-Pakistan Council activists gathered outside Parliament to chant anti-US slogans and wave the banners of the DPC which organised the march from Lahore.
“This long march is against the crusade against the United States and the Jews. This movement will continue and we will now focus on the areas from where the supply goes to Nato forces in Afghanistan,” the chairman of the coalition Maulana Samiul Haq told the crowd.
“We will now stage a long march from Quetta to Chaman on July 14-15 and Peshawar to Torkham on July 16-17”, he further announced.
Ameer Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) Hafiz Saeed — blamed of masterminding the Mumbai terror attacks — in his remarks before the end of rally said they would establish peace in the country following Prophet Mohammed.
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