Anti-NATO long march reaches Islamabad

Thousands of Pakistanis, who started a “long march” from the eastern city of Lahore on Sunday to protest against the government’s decision to reopen NATO supply routes to Afghanistan, have reached Islamabad.

On Monday, more than 30,000 demonstrators gathered outside the Pakistani parliament and chanted “Death to the USA” and other anti-US slogans, AFP reported.

The protest march was organized by the Defense of Pakistan Council (DPC), an alliance of 40 religious groups and political parties.

DPC Chairman Maulana Samiul Haq told the protesters, “This long march is against the crusade (against us) 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.”

“We will now stage a long march from Quetta to Chaman… July 14-15 and Peshawar to Torkham… July 16-17,” he announced.

On Sunday, thousands of DPC activists and other protesters from all over the country joined a convoy of buses, trucks, and cars on the 275-kilometer journey from Lahore to the capital.

Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the leader of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD), an Islamic charity associated with the DPC, said on Sunday, “God willing, this march will become the foundation of true defense of Pakistan.”

Pakistan had been the main supply route for US-led forces occupying Afghanistan from October 2001 to November 2011.

Islamabad closed the border crossings used to transfer NATO supplies to Afghanistan in November 2011, after 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in US-led airstrikes on two checkpoints at the Afghan border.

On July 4, Islamabad agreed to reopen the border crossings after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was “sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military.”

In June, NATO reached agreements with Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan to allow the Western military alliance to transport vehicles and other military hardware from Afghanistan.

NATO previously made an agreement with Russia on an exit route, permitting the alliance to send tens of thousands of vehicles and supplies from Afghanistan to Europe later this year.