http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/03/us-women-pakistan-code-pink
US women may stage hunger strike in Pakistan in anti-drones protest
Code Pink activists gathered in Islamabad ready to join march led by Imran
Khan into tribal region bordering Afghanistan
*
Jon Boone <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jon-boone> in
Islamabad
* guardian.co.uk <http://www.guardian.co.uk/> , Wednesday 3 October
2012 06.58 EDT
Medea Benjamin of Code Pink
<http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2012/10/3/134926
1215537/Medea-Benjamin-of-Code-Pi-008.jpg>
Medea Benjamin of Code Pink protests in August outside a building in Florida
where the group says drones are built. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Not content with a planned march into one of Pakistan
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/pakistan> 's most dangerous regions, a
group of American women consider mounting a hunger strike outside the US
embassy in Islamabad as part a campaign against CIA drone attacks in the
country.
Thirty-five activists from Code Pink, a US anti-war group, have gathered in
the Pakistani capital this week as they prepare for an unprecedented march
and political rally in South Waziristan, one of the semi-autonomous tribal
areas on the Afghan border, which is a hotbed of Taliban militancy.
Despite intense publicity surrounding the event, doubts persist over whether
it will be able to take place. Local authorities have expressed strong
doubts about the safety of the march, even though the Pakistani military has
long claimed its operations in the area have brought a semblance of
security.
Medea Benjamin, the veteran activist leading the Code Pink delegation, said:
"Frankly, it's a win-win situation for us, whether we get into Waziristan or
not.
"We are going because we are challenging the Pakistani government to allow
us to go to a place that has been off limits but needs to be seen. And if
they try to stop us, it will be clear they do not want the world to see what
is going on there."
On Tuesday in Islamabad, the women met retired generals, ambassadors and
even a former head of the notorious military spy agency Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI), and discussed other tactics to publicise their cause.
Those included mounting a hunger strike outside the US embassy in Islamabad.
Benjamin said the group was still considering the idea.
"It was something a couple of members of the group brought up, but we wanted
to wait until we got here to see how appropriate that might be," she said.
Map - Pakistan, Waziristan
<http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2012/10/3/1349261
992995/Map---Pakistan-Waziristan-001.png> The whole tribal belt has been off
limits to foreigners since Taliban fighters started seeking sanctuary there
There was also a lengthy discussion about whether Pakistan, which publicly
decries the drone campaign despite signs that it continues to give tacit
approval, should attempt to shoot down US drones in its airspace.
On Wednesday, the women met people from North Waziristan who said they were
victims of the US drone campaign, having lost relatives to missile strikes
by the remote-controlled planes. They will also hold meetings with Pakistani
and US government officials.
The group includes Mary Ann Wright, a former US diplomat and army colonel
who condemned her country's covert drone campaign as Barack Obama's
"personal execution device", in reference to the US president's weekly
meeting at which he is reported to choose targets for missile strikes.
The march, led by Imran Khan <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/imran-khan>
and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, is due to take place this
weekend. Organisers hope to spend Saturday night in a town outside the
tribal areas and then move on to Jandola, just inside the border of South
Waziristan, where they will hold a rally.
The Taliban have given mixed signals over the march. In August, a spokesman
said Khan would be targeted because he is a "liberal", but other reports
have said the Taliban will support the march.
Supporters say Khan has been assured by General Ashfaq Kayani, the head of
Pakistan's army, that if they go to South Waziristan they will remain safe.
The ambitions of march organisers have already been significantly
downgraded. The original hope had been to travel to North Waziristan, a far
more dangerous area rife with militants drawn from across the world.
The vast majority of drone strikes take place there, and the Pakistani army
has almost no influence over the tribal area, where they have long-resisted
US calls to mount military operations.
Nonetheless, although Jandola is in a relatively safe part of South
Waziristan, all of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) have been
off limits to foreigners since the tribal belt became a sanctuary for
Taliban groups fighting against Nato troops in Afghanistan
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/afghanistan> and Pakistani government
forces.
Few politicians have dared to campaign in the area. If successful, the march
will cement Khan's position as a pre-eminent opponent of the US drone
campaign.
Code Pink, which originally formed to oppose the second Iraq
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/iraq> war, claimed its anti-drone campaign
was still in its infancy. Benjamin said: "When it comes to drones, we are at
the very beginning of turning public opinion against them in the US."
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