ISLAMABAD, June 8: Pakistan reminded the United States on Saturday that drone strikes had complicated bilateral relations and adversely affected peace and stability in the region.
“Drone strikes have a negative impact on the desire of both countries to forge a cordial and cooperative relationship and to ensure peace and stability in the region,” Tariq Fatemi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, told US Charge d’ Affaires, Ambassador Richard Hoagland.
The charge d’ affaires had been summoned to the Foreign Office on the instructions of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to receive protest on the latest drone strike in which nine people were killed in North Waziristan on Friday. The identity of those killed in the attack hasn’t been revealed as yet.
Mr Sharif, in his speech in the National Assembly immediately after his election as the Leader of the House (prime minister), had called for an end to drone strikes. But in a subsequent letter written to Pakistani envoys posted abroad, Mr Sharif had skipped drone attacks while enumerating his foreign policy priorities and just called for minimising the points of divergence with Washington.
Friday’s was the first drone attack since Mr Sharif was sworn in as prime minister and the second one after President Obama’s policy speech on counter-terrorism strategy last month in which he announced tighter oversight of the drone programme.
Mr Fatemi, talking to the charge d’ affaires, emphasised the importance of bringing an immediate end to drone attacks as they were unpopular in this country.
Pakistani officials have rarely asked Washington publicly to end drone attacks. They have instead kept harping on legal and political implications of the strikes.
Mr Fatemi said: “The government of Pakistan strongly condemns the drone strikes which are a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” The last time the Foreign Office categorically asked the US for cessation of drone attacks was on April 15 after an attack in North Waziristan.
“The government of Pakistan calls upon the US government to stop such attacks based on mutual respect and established international norms,” the statement had then said.
However, in reaction to an attack on May 29 in which TTP deputy chief Waliur Rehman was killed, Islamabad’s anger was reduced to mere “expression of concern”.
The latest attack was the 16th of this year. The frequency of attacks has significantly dropped as compared to the past few years. The drone war saw a sudden spike in 2008 and the highest number of attacks took place in 2010 when 117 strikes were recorded.
Out of the almost 350 attacks since 2004, majority of them have taken place in North Waziristan, targeting militant facilities linked to the Haqqani network and loyalists of Hafiz Gul Bahadur.
AP adds: The move bolstered expectations that Mr Sharif’s government would, at least publicly, take a much harder line against such strikes than its predecessor.
A US Embassy official confirmed the meeting between Mr Fatemi and Ambassador Hoagland, but did not provide details.
While the previous government did, on occasion, summon US envoys to protest killings by drones, for the most part it stuck to routine press releases denouncing the strikes.
