UK says hearing into US drones in Pakistan would risk denting ties: Report

Foreign office lawyer says if judge approves court hearing, intelligence sharing with US would be put at risk.

The British government has claimed that a potential court hearing into the US drone strikes in Pakistan would risk denting ties between the three countries, reported Associated Press on Thursday.

A Pakistani man, Noor Khan, has asked the British high court to examine whether British intelligence officials assisted the CIA managed weapons system. Khan’s father was killed in a drone strike in 2011.

According to the AP report, a foreign office lawyer told the high court that if a judge allows Khan’s application for a full hearing into the CIA’s drone programme, intelligence sharing with the United States would be put at risk.

Earlier, the court said that media reports suggested that the signals intelligence agency GCHQ passes information in support of CIA drone operations in Pakistan, even though the UK government declines to comment on it.

Foreign secretary’s lawyers had said that they will neither confirm nor deny any intelligence-sharing activities as it would be “prejudicial to the national interest”.