UK Pakistanis to protest drone attacks during Obama speech

LONDON: British Pakistanis will demonstrate on May 25 the drone attacks outside the House of Parliament when President Obama addresses both the Houses of Parliament during his state visit.
The protest has been called by a number of Pakistani organisations and will be led by Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham. “Obama is a continuation of George W Bush. He has stepped up the campaign against innocent Pakistani people and as a result everyday poor Pakistanis are dying in indiscriminate drone attacks.
“On the one hand, Obama has authorised the assassination of innocent Pakistani Muslims and, on the other hand, he has encouraged and defended the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty. He needs to be told that he is as unpopular as the neo-con Bush was,” Lord Nazir told The News here.
Hundreds of Pakistanis and British Muslims from conflict zones are expected to rally against Barack Obama. Many left-wing groups will also hold agitations in London against the US foreign policy.
Lord Nazir said the demonstration would call for the complete cessation of the drone attacks in Pakistani tribal territories and would urge the UK and US to withdraw their forces from Afghanistan because the Afghan war has become an “unwinnable war” for them.
Lord Nazir said he backed the joint resolution passed by the Pakistani parliament calling for immediate halt to drone attacks by the US and to uphold the country’s sovereignty and national security at all cost but hoped that the government will stand up for Pakistanis in face of the foreign aggression.
He said the US foreign policy had made this world a less safer place to live and Pakistan was the biggest case study where the US policies in the South Asian region had destabilised Pakistan.
He said the Pakistani parliament had spoken with a united voice and if the US was sincere in its avowals of respecting other nations, then it must show that it respects Pakistan.
Lord Nazir said that a systematic campaign was being run against Pakistani institutions with the full approval of western governments. “Efforts are underway to drive a wedge between Pakistanis people and the country’s institutions. Pakistanis all over the world must unite to defeat such efforts.”