Demanding action: PTI files NA resolution against drones
Says military action should be taken against drone strikes if needed.
PTI senior leader Dr Shireen Mazari. PHOTO: NNI/FILE
LAHORE:
Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) filed a resolution in the National Assembly on Monday, calling for military action against US drone strikes if needed.
According to a draft submitted to the National Assembly Secretariat by PTI Information Secretary Dr Shireen Mazari, for nine years America’s remotely-piloted aircraft have rained missiles upon Pakistani territory, killing innocent citizens in far greater numbers than they have killed ‘militants’.
“Today, we, the newly elected representatives of the people of Pakistan in the National Assembly, express deep distress over the deaths of more than 3,000 Pakistani civilians due to drone strikes since their initiation in 2004.”
The resolution called on the “…government of Pakistan to take steps to halt all drone attacks, including: asking the US to end drone strikes over Pakistani territory; taking diplomatic and, if need be, military measures to respond firmly to any such attack immediately.”
The draft went on to say that drones violated Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Moreover, it said that strikes qualified as ‘genocide’ under the UN Genocide Convention of 1948.
Additionally, PTI’s resolution stressed that the government should abide by the Peshawar High Court verdict of April 2013 in which drone strikes were deemed illegal and threatening for “a handful of alleged militants, who are not engaged in combat with the US authorities or forces.”
“This resolution demands the government to protect the sovereignty of Pakistan, the international law cited above and enforce the judgment of the Peshawar High Court as soon as possible.”
Published in The Express Tribune, June 11th, 2013.
Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) filed a resolution in the National Assembly on Monday, calling for military action against US drone strikes if needed.
According to a draft submitted to the National Assembly Secretariat by PTI Information Secretary Dr Shireen Mazari, for nine years America’s remotely-piloted aircraft have rained missiles upon Pakistani territory, killing innocent citizens in far greater numbers than they have killed ‘militants’.
“Today, we, the newly elected representatives of the people of Pakistan in the National Assembly, express deep distress over the deaths of more than 3,000 Pakistani civilians due to drone strikes since their initiation in 2004.”
The resolution called on the “…government of Pakistan to take steps to halt all drone attacks, including: asking the US to end drone strikes over Pakistani territory; taking diplomatic and, if need be, military measures to respond firmly to any such attack immediately.”
The draft went on to say that drones violated Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Moreover, it said that strikes qualified as ‘genocide’ under the UN Genocide Convention of 1948.
Additionally, PTI’s resolution stressed that the government should abide by the Peshawar High Court verdict of April 2013 in which drone strikes were deemed illegal and threatening for “a handful of alleged militants, who are not engaged in combat with the US authorities or forces.”
“This resolution demands the government to protect the sovereignty of Pakistan, the international law cited above and enforce the judgment of the Peshawar High Court as soon as possible.”
Published in The Express Tribune, June 11th, 2013.