Pakistan records protest against US drone campaign

In what appeared to be a useless effort, Pakistan once again summoned a senior US diplomat to lodge a formal protest against continued drone strikes inside the country’s tribal areas.

Foreign Office released official statement on Thursday saying that a senior US official was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to record Islamabad’s concerns over the drone attacks.

The statement said, “The diplomat was informed that drone strikes were unlawful, against international law and a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty. It was emphatically stated that such attacks were unacceptable”.

The American spy planes have increasingly targeted the restive North Waziristan Agency in recent days. They claimed that this area is a source of the deadliest Afghan insurgent group, the Haqqani network.

For the last week, there have been drone strikes reported on a daily basis in the area. Despite recent visit by the DG Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to the United States, the drone attacks increased in the area.

Apparently, the two sides will have discussed the issue of drone campaign with each other.

On the other side, Islamabad hasn’t condemned and recorded a formal protest with the US over the deadly attacks for the first time.

Pakistan last month summoned Richard Hoagland, the senior-most US diplomat in the country, in a similar manner to protest against a series of drone attacks. However, it seems to have had no effect.

At least nine suspected militants were killed on August 22, when drones targeted a vehicle in the Sheen Khwar area on the outskirts of Humzonee village.

The area is considered to be a stronghold of anti-US militant commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur.

America has been pushing Pakistan for years to carry out a military offensive against Haqqani network in the area, who have launched some of the most audacious attacks on the US-led foreign forces in Afghanistan.

However, the Obama administration is not ready to end the drone campaign despite Islamabad’s repeated protests.

According to an international advocacy group, the US had launched a total of 336 drone strikes in Pakistan, killing between 2,532 and 3,251 people since 2004.

The London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism noted that 284 of these strikes were ordered by the Obama administration.

The strikes also killed between 475 and 879 civilians. A total of 175 children were also killed. Between 1,204 and 1,332 people were injured.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Aug 24 2012. Filed under Latest News, 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.