(5 Jul 2012) Thousands of people took to the streets of Gujranwala in Pakistan on Thursday to protest against the reopening of the NATO supply route to Afghanistan.
Opposition leader and former Pakistan cricketer Imran Khan addressed the crowd and denounced the decision.
"It was the duty of this parliament to restore the NATO supply only when America stopped its war in Afghanistan, stopped drone attacks and there may have been a political solution to the war against terrorism. But these Pakistani politicians are American slaves," he told a group of supporters.
The first truck carrying supplies to American and NATO troops crossed the Pakistani border earlier on Thursday after a seven-month closure of the supply routes by Pakistan ended earlier this week.
The reopening was a rare bright spot in relations between the US and Pakistan, which had shut down the routes in retaliation for American air strikes in November that killed 24 Pakistani border troops.
Disagreements over issues like American drone strikes and Islamabad's alleged support for Taliban militants still hamper a relationship vital to stabilising neighbouring Afghanistan.
During the closure, the US was forced to use more costly and lengthy routes through the former Soviet Union.
After months of back-and-forth negotiation, Pakistan reopened the routes on Tuesday after US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton apologised for the border deaths.
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