ISLAMABAD, Aug 23: The Foreign Office on Thursday again protested against continuing drone attacks by the US on militant targets in tribal areas and reminded Washington that the drone war was unacceptable because it violated Pakistan`s sovereignty.
An unnamed senior US official was summoned to the Foreign Office to receive the demarche after a series of three strikes since last Saturday. The most recent attack took place on Tuesday in Miramshah (North Waziristan) killing nine suspected militants.
The summoning came against the backdrop of reports that Pakistan was renewing its demand that the US government must stopdrone attacks. During his visit to the US earlier this month, ISI Chief Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam had urged his CIA counterpart David Petraeus to stop the drone campaign led by his agency. Pakistan offered different options in return for cessation of drone strikes, but failed to convince the Americans.
`The US Embassy was today démarched on recent drone strikes in North Waziristan. A senior US diplomat was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and informed that the drone strikes were unlawful, against international law and a violation of Pakistan`s sovereignty.
It was emphatically stated that such attacks were unacceptable,` a statement by the Foreign Office on the sum-moning of the embassy official said.
So far there have been close to 30 drone attacks this year in which, it is estimated, about 207 people have been killed, according to statistics collected by the New America Foundation.
Long War Journal`s (LWJ) data, meanwhile, says none of the over 200 killed were civilians. The civilian casualty has mostly been around 30-40 during previous years, but improved targeting is said to have reduced collateral damage.
LWJ statistics say 2370 Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders and operatives were killed since the start of the drone war in 2004. A total of about 138 civilians were reportedly killed in these attacks.
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