PAKISTAN CONDEMNS US DRONE ATTACK
Islamabad, 6 Jumadil Akhir 1434/16 April 2013 (MINA) – Pakistani Foreign Ministry has srtongly condemned a recent US drone strike that killed several people in the country’s northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border.
“Such unilateral attacks are in contravention of International Law and counterproductive to the stability of this country,” Pakistani Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Monday (15/4), according to PressTV reports as quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).
The statement also added that the government of Pakistan considers drone attacks to be a violation of the country’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The media reported that the statement called on American officials to stop drone attacks “based on mutual respect and established international norms.”
A US killer drone fired two missiles on Sunday (14/4) at a house in Datta Khel area located some 35 kilometers (22 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in the Pakistani tribal region of North Waziristan.
Officials said the house was completely destroyed in the attack and at least four people were killed.
Pakistan’s tribal regions are attacked by US assassination drones almost regularly with Washington claiming that militants are the targets. However, casualty figures clearly indicate that civilians are the main victims, the iranian media reported.
The killing of Pakistani civilians, including women and children, has strained relations between Islamabad and Washington.
On January 7, eight people were killed in similar attacks in the village of Haiderkhel in the Miranshah district of North Waziristan. Sixteen people had been also killed in a killer drone strike on South Waziristan a day before.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, on Februari 22, said Islamabad would “take up drone attacks issue with Washington and its ambassador to Pakistan.”
The London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism said in a report released in February that the United States has carried out more than 360 assassination drone attacks in Pakistan since 2004, killing nearly 3,500 people. (T/P01/P03)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
