Premier Sharif slams US drone attacks on Pakistani soil
Iran Press TV
Tue Jul 16, 2013 12:39PM GMT
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called on the United States to put an end to CIA-operated assassination drone campaign in Pakistan's troubled northwest tribal region.
"We hope that drone attacks will end in the days to come," Sharif said in an address to industrialists, exporters, traders and media personnel in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad.
Sharif said on Monday that unlike the previous government, his administration would not adopt double standards on the issue of the ongoing drone strikes inside the Pakistani soil.
The previous administrations used to criticize the US assassination drone attacks, but silently supported them, he noted
The remarks come as Sharif recently blasted US assassination drone strikes in his country, describing them as a violation of international law and the UN charter.
Islamabad has repeatedly condemned the attacks, saying they violate Pakistan's sovereignty.
Washington claims that the airstrikes target militants, but reports on the ground show that civilians have been the main victims of the attacks.
US President Barack Obama recently defended the use of the controversial drones as "self-defense."
The aerial attacks, initiated by former US president George W. Bush, have been escalated under President Obama government.
The United Nations and several human rights organizations have already identified the US as the world's number one user of 'targeted killings' largely due to its drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The United Nations says the US-operated drone strikes in Pakistan pose a growing challenge to the international rule of law.
Philip Alston, UN special envoy on extrajudicial killings, said in a report in late October 2010 that the attacks were undermining the rules designed to protect the right of life.
Alston went on to say that he fears the drone killings by the US Central Intelligence Agency could develop a 'play station' mentality.
JR/PR
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