Islamabad condemns drone attacks inside Pakistani territory

Terming them illegal and violation of Pakistani sovereignty, Islamabad strongly condemned the US drone attacks on its territory.

The deadlock between the United States and Pakistan, the two strategic allies, over the strikes remains unresolved. In very recent three days, three drone strikes carried out on suspected insurgents killed 27 people in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

The foreign ministry issued a statement on Monday, saying the drone attacks violate the country’s autonomy. It observed, “The strategic disadvantages of the strikes far outweigh the tactical benefits, hence totally counterproductive”.

Pakistan and the United States are deadlocked in dialogues over the resuming of land routes to allied forces battling in Afghanistan. Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) urged the United States to put a halt on drone strikes.

Pakistan blocked the supply routes for NATO forces in November 2011 after allied forces killed 24 Pakistani troops in cross-border friendly fire.

In order to move forward for a smooth withdrawal of most foreign forces battling in Afghanistan before the end of 2014, the land route is considered significant for the United States.

According to the Pakistan’s government, the CIA’s (Central Intelligence Agency) campaign of attacks through unmanned aircrafts is increasing sentiment against anti-America and counterproductive. In its view, the drone attacks are creating collateral damage.

On the other hands, the US believed that such attacks were a highly effective tool of targeting insurgents and high valued targets. Terming them according to the US laws, they considered these planes important weapons in the war on terror.

America believed that Pakistan’s tribal areas provide shelters to Taliban and Al-Qaeda related leaders for plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.

Apparently the American administration has put aside the request made by Islamabad to halt drone attacks within the country’s territory.

It is vital to mention here that according to a tally compiled by NewsPakistan, almost 150 people have been killed in the drone strikes during this year.

The US unmanned aircrafts carried out 45 attacks in Pakistan’s tribal belt in 2009, 101 in 2010 and 64 in 2011.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=24741

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jun 5 2012. Filed under National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.