TTP offers Imran Khan security in peace march

KARACHI: Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said that it has offered to provide security to Imran Khan for the latter's peace march into the tribal region at the weekend, a British daily newspaper said in a report.

According to the daily Telegraph, senior commanders with the TTP said a recent meeting headed by the group's leader Hakimullah Mehsud set aside earlier instructions to send suicide bombers to assassinate the former all-rounder.

Instead the group noted Khan's strident opposition to US drone strikes against militants in its territory as it reversed course to offer security assistance, the newspaper’s report said.

A spokesman said: "We are ready to provide them security if they need. We endorses Imran Khan's plea that drone strikes are against our sovereignty," he said. "The anti-drone rallies should have been taken out by the religious leaders long ago but Imran had taken the lead and we wouldn't harm him or his followers."

Imran Khan in his press conference said he had been promised the support of local tribes but was worried the government was opposed to allowing foreign peace campaigners and journalists to attend.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has recorded at least 2570 deaths since 2004 in 346 drone strikes.