Pakistani politician calls for replacement of NATO by OIC in Afghanistan

BRUSSELS, Sept 25 (KUNA) -- The leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice), Imran Khan, warned here Thursday that Pakistan will be destabilised if the strategy of the use of force against militants is not changed with dialogue. "The war on terror in our part of the world, in Pakistan and Afghanistan, is being lost. There has to be a change of strategy, " Khan, a former captain of Pakistans cricket team, told a press conference at the European Parliament in Brussels earlier today.
"Eventually peace will come in that area when NATO withdraws and OIC (Organisation of Islamic Conference) troops come in. In the Muslim world the war on terror is perceived as war against Islam. So if OIC troops come this will not be the case," he said.
NATO has some 60,000 troops under its ISAF mission in Afghansitan.
Khan was invited by the European Parliament Friends of Pakistan Group to speak on the current situation in Pakistan.
He called for dialogue to resolve the militancy in the tribal areas of Pakistan rather than using the army.
"Pakistan is likely to be destabilised because of the war in Afghanistan. Pakistan is going exactly the way Cambodia went during the Vietnam war. Cambodia had nothing to do with the Vietnam war. In the end Cambodia was destabilised because of US bombing," Khan said.
Khan said the present government like the Musharraf government is already being perceived "as the puppet of the US." (end) nk.ajs KUNA 251850 Sep 08NNNN