Pakistan terms drone strikes unlawful and counterproductive
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 1:15:33 by Faisal Farooq
Pakistan terms drone strikes unlawful and counterproductive
Despite acknowledging tactical advantages of the US unmanned attacks in the tribal region, Pakistan appeared to shrug off the unexpected confirmation by Washington on its strikes, terming them unlawful, counterproductive and hence intolerable.
According to the media reports, Foreign Office spokesperson, Abdul Basit said, “Notwithstanding tactical advantages of drone strikes, we are of the firm view that these are unlawful, counterproductive and hence unacceptable.”
Abdul Basit asserted, “Our views on drone strikes have been clear. These attacks are in violation of sovereignty.”
He uttered these remarks after President Barack Obama confessed for the first time that spy attacks had targeted militants in Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal areas.
When asked about the use of unmanned planes by his administration in a chat with web users on Google+ and YouTube, the US president stated, “A lot of these strikes have been in the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas).”
According to the US diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks, back in 2010, revealed that Pakistan’s civilian and military leaderships secretly supported US drone attacks, despite public condemnation in a country where the US association is immensely disliked.
The relations between America and Pakistan deteriorated sharply in 2011, over the covert the US raid that killed al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in May and US air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November 26, 2011.
Pakistan is now reviewing its entire alliance with the United States and has kept its Afghan border closed to NATO supply route since its incursion on Pakistani soil.
Pakistan ordered US personnel to leave Shamsi air base in, generally believed to have been a hub for the CIA drone program. It is mulling to only reopen the Afghan border by exacting taxes on convoys for NATO.
The Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) has prepared a proposal comprised of new terms of engagement with the US. Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani will present the recommendations in the joint sitting of the parliament to give it final approval.
Tags: Abdul Basit, Barack Obama, CIA, Drone strikes, FATA, NATO, Pakistan, PCNS, USShort URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=11210
Posted by Faisal Farooq
on Jan 31 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan.
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If the US approves of drone strikes in sovereign countries I guess they won’t mind when there’s a few more 9/11 style drone strikes on American soil.
Someone comes in to your country, kills your citizens and then tries to justify all of it; and the best we can come up with is employing taxes on NATO supplies. Pathetic. This is certainly not the end of the drone attacks in Pakistan. The leaders of our country have literally sold out our country for a small gain and have lost their backbone to stand up and take a stand. I wonder how these leaders sleep at night with the blood of their brethren on their hands. InshAllah, that day is not far away when you (leaders) will deservingly pay for your wrong ways.