Inside Pakistan there is ‘national consensus’ on the drones: the US must stop its Predators because they kill innocent citizens in collateral damage and increase the pressure on Pakistan Army fighting the Taliban by swelling the ranks of those who fight it for revenge. Outside Pakistan, there is an impression that the drones are being used against the terrorists in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas under some kind of secret deal between the CIA and Pakistan Army. Another al Qaeda top echelon leader has been killed on January 11 in Miranshah in North Waziristan through this alleged ‘coordination’. This was said to be Abdullah Khorasani, who is believed to have been playing a key role in planning the overall strategy of terror acts in Pakistan. The man’s real name was Aslam Awan, and he was a citizen of Abbottabad, where Osama bin Laden was killed last May by US commandos. As per routine, the drone attack was effective because it was directed by spotters on ground calling the strike precisely on to the victim.
The strike ended a 55-day-long pause after the Salala checkpost attack by American gunships in November 2011. Following this, a foreign news agency quoted Pakistani officials who said that the drones are being operated under an agreed US-Pakistan plan which remains classified. This clearly contradicts the government’s public stance on this issue, which, quite stridently believes that drones violate Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The American stance in the past has been that drone attacks had to be carried out without bringing Pakistan into the loop because the Pakistani side tended to ‘pass on’ the information about the attack to the terrorists who then moved away from the target area. This was understood all over the world in the light of the belief that Pakistan was actually a allowing safe haven to foreigner terrorists in North Waziristan whom it used for attacking inside Afghanistan to retain its stake in the Afghan endgame. The new ‘information’ — including quotes from unnamed Pakistani officials — belies much of that. It purports to verify that the Pakistani side was indeed keeping the strikes secret and, instead of passing on the information to the terrorists, was actually helping the CIA target them with spotters on the ground. Given the nature of these revelations, it remains to be seen what the Pakistani military’s response will be to them.
One should understand that the drone attacks have been a success story as far as the US and its allies are concerned. The ‘analysis’ about the ‘wiping out’ of al Qaeda and the sharp diminution in its ability to target America and Europe is based on the number of al Qaeda terrorists killed by the drones inside Pakistan. As if to confirm this, a meeting took place between an al Qaeda leader and Mullah Umar in the presence of other commanders in which the al Qaeda representative was quoted as appealing for help for more attacks by allies in Pakistan. Pakistan’s wrath against the CIA after the Raymond Davis case in Lahore early 2011 had brought the US-Pakistan quarrel to a boiling point. Since then, and since the May 2 attack that killed Osama bin Laden, the relationship has been hurtling downhill, ending in Pakistan’s decision not to attend the Bonn conference on Afghanistan. This would then lead to many arguing that with this all as a backdrop, how could Pakistan possibly be cooperating with the US on the drone attacks.
Yet there is logic to the opposite point of view. Pakistan has benefited from the attacks in the sense that some of its most dangerous enemies have been killed by the drones. Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban chief, whose intercepted telephone call revealed that he was behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, was killed by a drone. Ilyas Kashmiri was killed in a drone strike and Hakimullah Mehsud, who succeeded Baitullah, was killed ‘twice’ in drone strikes. The first one was false but the second more recent one is yet to be proven false. Clearly, drone strikes are effective. However, Pakistan’s policy of saying one thing in public and quite the opposite in private should be replaced by when where the people should be persuaded of this strategy’s effectiveness.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 25th, 2012.
COMMENTS (10)
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@Saghir Hussain: So, you are concerned about the lack of "due process" involved in killing Taliban/Terrorists! Please take a ride over to The international Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, and ask for an injunction against all terrorist activity in the World! That should solve the problem and address all your "due process" concerns when the Terrorists die LAUGHING!
According to our military officials, drone attacks are necessary for eradicating terrorism in the region.
In March 2011, Maj-Gen Ghayur Mehmood, in charge of troops in North Waziristan, had unveiled the truth about drone attacks. Briefing journalists in Miramshah, he said that ‘many of those being killed in these strikes are hardcore elements, a sizable number of them foreigners’. He also conceded that there had been a few civilian casualties. No one can deny the fact that drones have become more crucial than ever in fighting wars and terrorism. The Central Intelligence Agency spied on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan by video transmitted from a drone. One of Pakistan’s most wanted militants, Ilyas Kashmiri, was reported dead in June, 2011. According to a report released by an independent London-based group of investigative journalists in October, at least 2,318 people and a maximum of 2,912 people, the majority of them alleged militants, have been killed in these attacks. Between 386 and 775 civilians, including 173 children, were killed in the 300 drone attacks since June 17, 2004. The report says between that 1,141 and 1,225 persons were injured. This research data shows that only 15 per cent of the civilians were killed in drone attacks and they happened to be supporters of terrorists whom they had given shelter. Drone attacks are not against Pakistan’s interests. Our main issue is suicide attacks and growing militancy. Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists have killed thousands of our military and police officials, as well as political leaders and innocent civilians, through suicide attacks. It is quite incredible that everybody talks about US drone attacks, but nobody talks about suicide attacks. In fact, drone attacks are necessary for eliminating the enemies of our beloved homeland Pakistan. Therefore, the US should equip Pakistan’s armed forces with this sophisticated technology.
@Pakistani kashmiri: OH GOD PLEASE We don't care what US govt tells its people. Why do you care whatever happens inside America is not our concern. For heaven's sake stop this nonsense of dragging and comparing our country with America. Before pointing fingers, we need to make sure our hands are clean. PS: I AM NOT A PRO AMERICAN.
@Cautious: @vasan: You said it like it is. I agree 100% about our duplicity and misinformation to the world. Good Editorial ET. Regards, Mirza
Quote: "On 24 December, a suicide car bombing at a military housing area in Bannu killed six of our soldiers. TTP spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan told CNN by telephone that the attack, which killed the soldiers, was "revenge" for the killing of the group's fighters."(Unquote)
A good article on the reality of who really benifits from Drone Attacks! If the TTP hate them, then what better vote of approval do you need!
"Pakistan’s policy of saying one thing in public and quite the opposite in private" You have nailed the point. It is not only saying the opposite in private, it is also doing the opposite in public and private
@Cautious: with all due respect dude do you have a any idea what US government tells its people and what it actually does? just because US media is successful in hiding the corporate and political garbage doesnt mean it is all fair in america and not in pakistan, militaries, governments and politics work the same way in one part of the world and then the other half of the world wakes up and starts behaving the exact same way. No offence
This is a disappointing editorial. The people of Pakistan, by getting rid of a military dictator and empowering the judiciary have shown their determination to establish the Rule of Law. The use of Drones to kill individuals and families contravenes that principle. The Americans have used bullying and bribery to force Pakistani policymakers to allow these murders. Fortunately, the moral and political arguments against the use of Drones have now been accepted by informed Pakistanis, hence the pressure on those same policymakers not to be seen as collaborators And in the USA brave groups like the American Civil Liberties Union are working hard to educate ordinary Americans about the implications of allowing their government to kill anyone, let alone a citizen of the USA, without presenting any evidence or following Due Process.
That's one of the reasons that the World has little respect for Pakistan - your duplicitous - to make matters worse your not very good at it.