Islamabad, Aug 30, IRNA – The government, all opposition parties, rights groups and civil society are unanimous in strongly opposing American drone strikes in the country’s tribal regions, all to no avail.
They argue that drone strikes kill innocent people, violate Pakistan’s sovereignty and are against all international laws.
Despite strong resentment in Pakistan over these attacks the US has on the contrary increased the number of these strikes in recent days.
During the course of the last week more than 20 people have been killed in five drone strikes in tribal region of Pakistan.
Pakistan last week summoned a senior American diplomat and conveyed protest against the recent drone strikes in the country’s North Waziristan tribal region.
The Foreign Office spokesman has said that Pakistan has absolutely nothing to do with the drone strikes, denying that any intelligence was being provided to the United States.
“On drone attacks our position is very clear. As we have repeatedly said that we regard drone attacks as illegal, counter-productive, violation of our sovereignty, territorial integrity and in contravention of the international law,” said Mozam Ali Khan.
Islamabad is understood to have approved the strikes on al-Qaeda and Taliban targets in the past. But the government has become increasingly energetic in its public opposition.
The CIA says that militants are using North Waziristan as the launching pad for cross-border attacks on foreign and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.
Almost all major newspapers have condemned recent drone strikes and said that it confirms that the US is determined to target the militants with drones regardless of the resultant collateral damages.
Earlier Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar in an interview with the western media had said that Pakistan has spelt out in no uncertain terms that US drone aircraft strikes against militants inside its territory must stop, but Washington is not listening.
She said that US drones strikes on Pakistani soil are “unlawful, illegal and counterproductive.”
Religious Pakistani parties have also called the US drone attacks on Pakistani soil unacceptable terming them a sheer violation of the independent country's sovereignty.
Grand religious parties’ alliance Difa-e-Pakistan Council has been protesting countrywide against ‘increasing’ US drone strikes.
Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Sherry Rehman had said the drone attacks once succeeded in damaging the al-Qaeda but are now only serving to recruit new militants.
“We will seek an end to drone strikes and there will be no compromise on that,” she added.
The western media say that the areas where the American drone strikes generally occur are extremely remote and dangerous, making it difficult for reporters or others to verify a particular person’s death.
In the past, the US drones operated from Pakistani bases, drone strikes were conducted jointly and those killed were viewed as the common enemy.
Pakistani media say that such strikes kill many innocent people and are carried out without approval of the government.
Ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has also said that US drone attacks violated Pakistan’s sovereignty.
The PPP co-chairman maintained that Pakistan was committed to fighting and eliminating terrorism, however US drone attacks were creating difficulties.
The Parliament of Pakistan has adopted resolution against the drone strikes but the US is not paying a heed to such resolutions of the Pakistani parliament.
The PPP Senator Mian Raza Rabbani had said, “The US is using lip service towards the respect of the sovereignty of Pakistan. They have failed to honor the voice of our parliamentary resolution that was passed unanimously. This (resolution) is the will of our people as the parliament represents the people of Pakistan.”
Pakistan political party Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf had announced a long march to Waziristan tribal region against the civilian killings by the drones.
Experts in Pakistan say that drone strikes in tribal areas are weakening democracy and risk pushing people towards extremist groups.
In a recent development the UN human rights chief has called for a UN investigation into US drone strikes in Pakistan, questioning their legality and saying they kill innocent civilians.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay made the remarks at the end of a four-day visit to the country.
“Drone attacks do raise serious questions about compliance with the international law,” Pillay told a news conference in Islamabad.
The UN human rights chief provided no statistics but called for an investigation into civilian casualties, which she said were difficult to track.
Washington releases few details about its covert drone program in Pakistan, but the US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has described them as self-defense and promised that they would continue to target the al-Qaeda remaiders in Pakistan.
