Collateral damage of drone attacks very high: Shahbaz

Shahbaz tells British Home Secretary that drone victims family resort to extremism.

LAHORE:

Collateral damage due to drone attacks is very high as many innocent people are getting killed, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said in a meeting with the British Home Secretary Theresa Mary May in London on Wednesday.

During the meeting, matters of bilateral relations and cooperation in anti-terrorism efforts came under discussion, a press release said.

Shahbaz said if terrorism is causing death of innocent persons, many innocent lives are also being lost in drone attacks. Family members of drone victims eventually resort to extremism to take revenge, he said.

The Chief Minister informed the British Home Secretary that drone attacks are against Pakistan’s sovereignty and dignity. He said this was the reason that Punjab government had taken the principled stance of not accepting such foreign aid which compromised national dignity and honour.

He said the Punjab government has not accepted any foreign aid since May 2011, still it is expeditiously implementing various development projects.

During the meeting the need for cooperation between the Punjab government and Britain to control crime and to eliminate terrorism was emphasised and it was agreed that joint efforts were needed to defeat the designs of terrorists and extremists.

Other issues including recruitment of prosecutors, educational reforms, training of forensic science laboratory staff and anti-terrorism measures also came under discussion during the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2012.