Imran Khan says two-day convoy has been a success despite failing to reach intended destination
The Pakistani military has blocked a convoy carrying thousands of Pakistani protesters and a small contingent of US anti-war activists who were trying to enter a tribal region along the border with Afghanistan in a demonstration against US drone strikes.
The group, led by the cricketer turned politician Imran Khan and his political party, was turned back miles from the border of South Waziristan. After an hour of negotiations, Khan announced that the caravan would return to the city of Tank, about nine miles away. There, he delivered a speech to the crowd of about 10,000.
Khan has harshly criticised the Pakistani government's co-operation with Washington in the fight against Islamist militants. He has been especially outspoken against US drone strikes targeting militants and has argued that Islamabad's alliance with Washington is the main reason Pakistan is facing a homegrown Taliban insurgency.
He has suggested that militant activity in Pakistan's tribal areas will dissipate when the US ends the war across the border in Afghanistan. "We want to give a message to America that the more you carry out drone attacks, the more people will hate you," Khan told the crowd.
Anti-American sentiment was evident at the gathering, with banners saying "Down with America" and "The friend of America is the traitor of the nation".
Pakistan's tribal regions, such as North and South Waziristan, serve as bases for militant groups such as the Taliban to stage raids across the border into Afghanistan.
The protest convoy of about 150 cars set out on Saturday from the capital, Islamabad, and stopped overnight in the city of Dera Ismail Khan, 250 miles away. The plan for the second and final day was to travel another 70 miles to reach Kotkai, in South Waziristan. But the military stopped the convoy in the town of Kawar.
Khan said he had wanted to continue the journey to Kotkai, but the army had said it was too late and that going into South Waziristan at night was dangerous. Khan said he had not wanted to put his supporters in danger, so he had turned the rally around to Tank.
Umar Younus, a spokesman for Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said the army stopped the convoy at a checkpoint and would not allow it to go any further.
Khan said the two-day motorcade had been a success. "We have taken the voice of the people of Waziristan to the world," he said.
Thousands of supporters had turned out along the route to cheer on the convoy, which stretched about nine miles, including accompanying media. Some of those packed into the vehicles waved flags for Khan's political group and chanted: "We want peace."
Video on Pakistani media showed barricades with hundreds of police in riot gear, a sign of concerns that the motorcade would be attacked or become unruly.
About three dozen Americans from the US-based anti-war group Code Pink joined Khan for the march. They say the US drone strikes have terrorised peaceful tribes living along the border and killed many innocent civilians as well as Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.
