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Pakistan shows concerns at US drone strike

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, May 30, IRNA -- Pakistan has expressed serious concern at the U.S. drone strike which killed at least five Taliban militants including a senior leader in North Waziristan tribal region.

The strike early Wednesday killed Wali-ur-Rehman Mehsud, the deputy in North Waziristan when the US drone fired two missiles on a house in Chashma village of Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan.

Wali-ur-Rehman was a strong supporter of the talks with the government to end bloodshed in Pakistan.

The residents said that they had seen several drones flying over the area and also after the attack.

“The Government of Pakistan has expressed serious concerns over the US drone attack that occurred in North Waziristan,” the Foreign Ministry said.

It said the Government of Pakistan has consistently maintained that the drone strikes are counter-productive, entail loss of innocent civilian lives, have human rights and humanitarian implications and violate the principles of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and international law.

The Wednesday’s strike occurred days after President Barrack Obama defended the CIA-controlled drone campaign despite strong criticism by rights groups.

Pakistan publicly condemns the US drone strikes and calls for a halt however Americans have rejected any change in the policy.

US Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday defended the drone strikes during his visit to Ethiopia on Sunday.

The United States was recently identified in a U.N.’s report as the world’s No. 1 user of targeted killings, mainly because of its reliance on drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The report by Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions Wednesday, called the drone attacks part of a “strongly asserted but ill-defined license to kill without accountability” and warned that they are contributing to an erosion of longstanding international rules governing warfare.

It urged states to identify publicly rules of international law believed to provide a basis for any attempted targeted killings as well as the rationale for deciding to kill instead of capture individuals.

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