| From April 23-24, thousands of people demonstrated in the northwest of Pakistan to demand an end to U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal regions, news agencies report. Protestors spent Saturday night and all day Sunday blocking the Khyber Pass, NATO's main supply route for its war on Afghanistan, preventing the transit of supply trucks and oil tankers. It is reported that nearly 70 percent of NATO supplies are transported through Pakistan. The CIA has justified its crimes against the people of the region by portraying the people's resistance to imperialist aggression and foreign occupation as terrorist activities. Asad Qaisar, a senior leader of Tehrik-e-Insaf (Justice Movement) which called the demonstration said people from other areas started coming to join the protest Sunday morning. Political leaders of other parties also joined the protest to show unity. Imran Khan, head of Tehrik-e-Insaf told thousands of people on the first day of protest in Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, that more protest rallies would be planned in the coming days unless the CIA stops drone strikes. "The government has failed to stop the U.S. strikes which kill innocent people including women and children," he said. The plans to disrupt supplies to NATO forces if the U.S. does not halt drone strikes in a month time were reiterated by Khan on the following day. A drone strike in March killed more than 40 tribesmen who had gathered in Datta Khel area of North Waziristan to resolve a local dispute. Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had angrily reacted to that strike and the tribesmen vowed revenge. Despite the growing public anger and Pakistan's official protest, the U.S. administration has rejected any possibility of halting the strikes, agencies report. |