Pakistanis rally against drone strikes
The main supply route for Nato troops in Afghanistan was temporarily closed yesterday after thousands of people blocked a key highway in Pakistan to protest against US drone strikes, officials said.
The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul, however, said the two-day blockade would have no impact on the alliance's operations in Afghanistan.
"Coordination with Pakistani government officials has been conducted and we understand the government will maintain security," an ISAF spokesman said. "There is no impact on ISAF sustainment."
The routes through Pakistan bring in 40 percent of supplies for Nato forces in Afghanistan, according to the United States Transportation Command.
The call for blocking the supply line came from cricket-turn-politician Imran Khan after US officials rejected Pakistan's demand for sharp cuts in drone strikes in its tribal regions where al Qaeda and Taliban militants are based.
Activists from Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI), Khan's party, and some Islamist parties staged a sit-in on the highway leading to Afghanistan through the Pashtun tribal region of Khyber.
The supply to Afghanistan through Khyber region had been suspended since the protest started on Saturday, a senior provincial government official, Siraj Ahmed, said.
The Chaman border crossing in the southwest has remained open to traffic, another official said.
The attacks by US pilotless aircraft are a source of concern for the Pakistani government, which says civilian casualties stoke public anger and bolster support for the Islamist militancy.
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