ISLAMABAD: The US campaign of drone strikes in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt is terrorising civilians 24 hours a day and breeding bitter anti-American sentiment, researchers said Tuesday.
The attacks in northwest Pakistan, where militants linked to Taliban and al Qaeda have strongholds, have killed thousands of people since they began in June 2004, according to the report by experts from Stanford Law School and the New York University School of Law.
Aside from casualties, the "Living Under Drones" report said, the missile strikes are affecting daily life in the tribal areas, making people unwilling to gather in groups – even for weddings and funerals – for fear of being targeted.
After attacks, rescuers are unwilling to help the wounded for fear of being hit by follow-up missiles, said the report commissioned by UK-based charity Reprieve, which campaigns against drone strikes.
The report urged Washington to rethink its drone strategy, arguing it was counterproductive and undermined international law.
Based on media reports and interviews with residents of North Waziristan, one of the areas most heavily targeted by drones, the research said the US conception of the campaign as a "surgically precise and effective tool that makes the US safer" was false.
Drone strikes allow the United States to carry out "targeted killings" of people it believes are militants from afar, without endangering American lives, but the campaign has become a festering sore in US-Pakistan relations.
Islamabad says the strikes are counterproductive and a violation of its sovereignty, but US officials are believed to regard them as an effective way of disabling terror groups by killing key members.
The Stanford-NYU report said "the publicly available evidence that they have made the US safer overall is ambiguous at best" and the majority of militants killed by drones seemed to be low-ranking.
Reliable casualty figures are difficult to acquire in the tribal areas, which are off-limits to journalists and aid workers because of security worries and government restrictions.
Citing a CNN report, the Stanford-NYU paper said only around two percent of those killed in drone strikes were "high-level" targets.
Total deaths between June 2004 and September 2012 were between 2,562 and 3,325, with 474 to 881 of them civilians, "Living Under Drones" said, quoting figures gathered from media reports by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
COMMENTS (13)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Rubbish report - rather than go into N Waziristan and observe and talk to the people - they used an anti drone organization located in Islamabad to conveniently find people willing to testify - akin to writing the conclusion and hiring someone to find evidence to support your position.
ISPR has never admitted that civilian have been killed by the drone except terrorists. No independent reporters are allowed and yet the people swear that civilian are killed. I wonder who is talk the truth.
This is a baloney report. Terrorists came first and later drones.
Since when are law school students conspired "experts" on anything? I also suspect that not one of those "student experts" has been to Pakistan let alone the tribal territories.
The question is If america will not kill these suiciders who will kill them. The funny thing is this we have allowed suicider factories in trible areas which are killing ordinary peoples as the VIP are always surrounded by hundreds of ordinary people. Ok ask all those who are protesting against drone attacks to give thier sons brothers & fathers to be appointed on places where the suicider are attacking & I bet you no one will give his dare one. Only the poor are forced to stand in front of the suiciders to either die or became handicap for all his life.
Who is terrorizing more and killing more civilians Drones or these fanatic terrorists? Who has killed more than 40 thousand Pakistanis? Who is targetting and killing Shia? Let us get real.
Of course drones are terrorizing civilians. They are terrorizing those civilians who themselves terrorize other innocent civilians who have no means of defending themselves. When the state has given up on the protection of its civilians, what other option is left?
It is total nonsense. It is not creating fear among the masses but may be among the terrorists.People are calling Drones as Ababeels as it is not harming civilians.
PTI will inshalla lead the Peace March to Wazirastan to highlight this gross injustice done by the Americans and to protest against the criminal silence of Pakistan's government. And Inshalla when PTI will come to power after these general elections they will see to it that no further drone strikes are carried out by the Americans. Inshalla
Of course it is - its making people more likely to take up arms against not just the Americans