For the first time, Pakistan has come up with a distinct plan on the handling of the controversial drone attacks which have created much havoc in the country. A senior security establishment official speaking to this newspaper provided some details of the plan under which the CIA would be involved in surveillance. It would then pass on information regarding the location of ‘high value’ targets to the Pakistanis who would then act as they see fit. To ensure action, the official said that the US would be welcome to carry out monitoring operations using drones, if required.
This proposal builds upon the new trust that is being developed stage by stage between Washington and Islamabad. In the past, the lack of US faith in Pakistan’s real intentions and its suspicions that the country was playing a ‘double game’ had led to a host of problems. The official stressed that Islamabad was keen on doing away with any duality of purpose and creating a working system with the US that would allow militants to be brought down, but in a manner that could lessen the degree of public anger regarding US-led drone strikes. It has also been made clear that ground action by US forces will not be permitted.
This suggestion marks a key step forward. Till now, Pakistan had offered no real solutions to the drone problem and the repercussions it caused. The official also said that the number of civilian casualties was not as high as that portrayed by some NGOs and that ‘the taking out’ of top al Qaeda figures helped both countries. Let us hope that things can move forward from this point. The mechanism laid out makes a lot of sense. What is important, however, is that Washington be convinced that the mechanism will be acted upon and that action — not just words — form part of the plan. Pakistan, at last, has shown that it has the ability to be proactive and this is a good step forward in the battle against terrorism and in maintaining good relations with Washington.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 20th, 2012.
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The title is wrong. It is a plan for terrorists not drones. It is an alternative to drones. Frankly given how targeted a drone can be it is unclear HOW Pakistani government actually 'taking care' would reduce fatalities. If they plan to do aerial bombing then in fact collateral damage would be much more. If they send ground forces then there would be a fire fight and Pakistani forces would also have casualties.
This alternative serves one purpose and one only to transfer ownership of tackling terror from USA to Pakistan at a higher cost in blood and treasure to Pakistan. This will certainly not benefit people in FATA - where potentially the collateral damage will be higher. It simply will help PPP with voters in Punjab where Imran is scoring points with his anti-drone strategy. It will also help the armed forces whose failure to prevent daily drone attacks is affecting their credibility.
If the American's have a high value target why would they notify the people who have consistently violated their trust in the past (remember the bomb factory info that the American's passed on only to watch on satellite the bad guys moving before the Pakistani raid) --- the Americans maybe naive but they aren't totally stupid.
The only plan for drones should be shooting them down and putting a permanent halt to NATO supplies.
What a lopsided logic. So it's Pakistan's mistake that it didn't come up with a solution to the CIA drone 'problem'? The CIA has wreaked havoc in Pakistani tribal belt, has alienated our people there, and has pushed some of them into the laps of terrorists. The psychological and social impact of CIA has done there will be with us for decades to come. If your Pakistani intelligence source is real, then this is one callous officer who would allow a few innocent Pakistanis to die at the hands of CIA drones. And for what? No HVTs been killed in the last 2-3 years in the Pakistani tribal belt. All we have is exaggerated CIA assessments of its own performance leaked out to US media and a few other outlets. The American assessments on al-Qaeda as an organization on the Afghan border are highly inflated.