LAHORE: Federal Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique Tuesday said that protests and sit-ins are of no use to end US drone attacks, however, he added that no one could be stopped from their right of protest citing a civilian and democratic government in Pakistan.
Speaking to media representatives after addressing the “Regional Conference on Strengthening Transport Connectivity and Trade Facilitation in South and South-West Asia,” he said that all the political parties whether in government or in opposition, had from the day one been condemning the drone attacks terming these against the country’s sovereignty.
“Though we are weak and faced with numerous grave challenges, we cannot change our stance on the issue of drone attacks, which are totally against the sovereignty of Pakistan,” he maintained.
To a question, Rafique said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was deliberating with all political parties, including Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), over the issue.
“We think that sit-in cannot stop drone attacks and today, Pakistan is blessed with democratic government so we cannot stop anyone by force to refrain from protesting against the drones, however, we can request the quarters concerned, which we are doing.”
On threats of US sanctions, he said the matter was not new to Pakistan, which had very much survived despite US sanctions following the nuclear tests in 1998.
The minister said that today, Pakistan was faced with serious challenges of terrorism and extremism and blamed certain ‘Western powers’ for the situation by using the country as war zone and abandoning ‘Jihadis.’
Those ‘western powers,’ he added without naming the United States, had left Pakistan alone and now they were resorting to threats, “which are not acceptable to us.”
To a question about missing persons, the federal minister said the PML-N had a great respect for the judiciary as it had been following the court orders on the issue.
The government had been making all possible efforts and has presented several missing persons subsequently before the Supreme Court, he added.
Since the issue of ‘missing persons’ surfaced, Rafique said, the PML-N had been condemning the enforced disappearances of the masses by the law enforcement agencies. “We haven’t changed our stance on the issue even after coming into power,” he said.