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LAHORE:
Difa-e-Pakistan Council's (DPC) "long march" against the resumption of
Nato supplies that kicked off Sunday. The long march which is en-route
to Islamabad will stop overnight in Gujrat.
According to a DPC
spokesperson, the participants would start the last lap of the “long
march” towards Islamabad early in the morning after a night’s rest in
Gujarat.
Earlier, thousands of people joined a convoy of buses,
trucks and cars, many carrying the black and white striped flags of the
DPC, on the 275-kilometre (170-mile) journey from Lahore to Islamabad.
Pakistan
reopened overland routes to NATO convoys on Tuesday after closing them
in protest at a US air raid that martyred 24 Pakistani soldiers in
November.
"Some 25,000 people have joined us at the start of (the)
long march and many more would join on the way, while we have 3,000
people with us who are performing security duties," the organisers'
spokesman Yahya Mujahid told AFP.
Police, however, estimated up to 8,000 people were taking part.
"This is the beginning of our struggle. We want the USA to not only leave Afghanistan, but Pakistan also," DPC chairman Maulana
Samiul Haq said at a rally before the convoy set off.
"This movement will continue till the government severs all contacts with United States and NATO," Haq said.
The
Defence of Pakistan coalition has attracted large turnouts at recent
rallies across the country, which some see as a build up to the
formation of a political party to contest the next general election,
widely expected within the next year.
The convoy is scheduled to reach Islamabad by Monday evening.
Hafiz
Mohammad Saeed, founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba blamed for the 2008
attacks in Mumbai, urged Pakistanis to join the protest.
"All the people who believe that (the) US should leave Afghanistan and
Pakistan, they should come out of their homes and join us," he said.
"Our aim is not just withdrawal of US from Afghanistan, but US stooges and slaves in Pakistan should also leave."
The
prime minister's advisor on interior affairs Rehman Malik said an
elaborate security plan had been put in place for the security of the
protestors.
"Four helicopters would do surveillance and two others
would be on standby for rescue, while closed circuit cameras have been
installed for the security of the participants," Malik told reporters in
Islamabad.
"They are patriotic Pakistanis and they want to
register their protest and we have given permission to them to do it
peacefully," Malik said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and
her Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar meanwhile Sunday hailed the
reopening of the supply routes, saying the allies were putting past
tensions behind them.
"We are both encouraged that we have been
able to put the recent difficulties behind us so we can focus on the
many challenges ahead," Clinton said on the sidelines of a conference on
Afghanistan held in Tokyo. (AFP) |
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