Shamsi, drones and our sovereignty

LONDON: This is with reference to Ejaz Haider’s article of July 5 titled “The curious case of the Shamsi airbase”.

His final sentence is key in that it suggests quite clearly that someone is looking the other way, or had given permission for the drones to be flown from Shamsi over Pakistani airspace. While such specific incidents may be a thing of the past, the point is that we are ourselves at fault. Each year, we allow royals from the Gulf states to do as they wish as they hunt our endangered species. And when these same Gulf states treat our Pakistani workers shoddily, we look the other way.

The UAE is not going to jeopardise its relationship with the US on our behalf. All this cloak and dagger about who is at the airbase and who allowed it to be used by the Americans is pointless. The fact of the matter is that none of this would happen without the consent of the military establishment and it is time that it owned up to this.

Syed Nadir El-Edroos

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2011.