Islamabad registers strong diplomatic protest with US

Opposition seeks parliamentary debate on the drone strike

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan summoned the US ambassador on Monday to register a formal protest over Saturday’s drone strike that killed a man believed to be Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.

As Ambassador David Hale was called to the Foreign Office, the Punjab Assembly adopted a resolution condemning the American drone strike deep inside Pakistan, while adjournment motions were submitted in both houses of parliament seeking debate on the blatant violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Syed Tariq Fatemi conveyed to the US envoy Pakistan’s concern over Saturday’s drone strike on its territory, according to a statement issued by the Foreign Office.

Fatemi pointed out that the drone strike was a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and a breach of the UN Charter that guarantees the inviolability of the territorial integrity of its member states.

Pakistan routinely condemns drone strikes in the tribal areas but this was the first time that the US carried out such an attack in Balochistan.

Fatemi also emphasised that such actions could adversely impact the ongoing efforts by the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) for facilitating peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

At the same time, Fatemi underlined that Pakistan and the United States had been closely coordinating in the fight against terrorism and that this cooperation needed to be maintained.

The last part of the Foreign Office statement suggested that while Pakistan denounced the drone strike, it never wanted to harm its bilateral cooperation with the US. Officially, Pakistan has yet not confirmed the man killed in the Naushki drone strike was Mullah Mansoor.

The diplomatic protest came hours after the provincial legislature of Punjab unanimously approved a resolution condemning the drone strike in Naushki district of Balochistan. Opposition Leader Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed tabled the resolution with the consent of the treasury benches.

“The US drone strike is an attack on the autonomy and independence of Pakistan. This house demands that the federal government summons the US ambassador in Pakistan to the Foreign Office to record a diplomatic protest,” reads the resolution.

“The government should ensure the United States refrains from carrying out such attacks on Pakistan’s soil in the future,” it demands.

Meanwhile federal lawmakers moved adjournment motions in both houses of parliament seeking house debate on the US drone strike deep inside Pakistan. The motions were submitted on Monday condemning the “foreign intrusion as violation of our national sovereignty”.

PPP MPs Nafisa Shah, Shazia Marri, Syed Naveed Qamar, Mir Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani and Syed Asghar Ali Shah submitted the motion in the National Assembly Secretariat which reads that “the ill-informed response of the Foreign Office is very rhetorical and disappointing”.

It argues that since Pakistan is a key player in the QCG-backed peace initiative, yet an attack was carried out on its sovereign soil without prior intimation. “It is high time we discussed our national foreign policy along with border controls, security and intelligence strategy”.

The lawmakers argued in the motion that the US drone strike was a serious matter which warranted immediate attention of the National Assembly.

In the Senate, PPP’s Senator Farhatullah Babar submitted the adjournment motion seeking house debate on the “security calculus in the region and implications of extending drone strikes to Balochistan”.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2016.