Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. PHOTO: REUTERS
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is all set to raise the issue of controversial drone attacks in the country’s tribal areas during his address in the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on September 27, the foreign office stated.
“On the issue of drone strikes, Pakistan’s position has been clearly articulated by our leadership and it will be projected at the United Nations,” foreign office spokesperson Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry told reporters at his weekly briefing on Thursday.
This is for the first time the government of Pakistan would take up the issue of drone strikes at the highest level in the UN, suggesting a policy shift from the previous administrations.
The development came after the recently held All Parties Conference (APC) adopted a unanimous resolution asking the federal government to consider the possibility of taking the drone issue to the UN.
However, the US insists that the CIA-piloted drone program is crucial for eliminating high-value targets associated with al-Qaeda and the Taliban. It is not clear yet if the Obama administration will review its policy following Pakistan’s move to bring this controversy on the UN platform.
The spokesman said that the prime minister will visit New York from 23 to 29 September to attend the UN General Assembly session.
The prime minister’s other engagements include meetings with a number of heads of states, he added.
“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will also address some high-level events on Sustainable Development, Millennium Development Goals, and Nuclear Disarmament on the sidelines of UN General Assembly session,” he said.
He also confirmed that the prime minister will not hold any bilateral meeting with US President Barrack Obama during his visit to New York.
“The two governments are in touch with each other and the meeting will be scheduled in the coming months,” he said.
Sources said Sharif was expected to travel to Washington in November for an official visit to US where he would meet the US president.
Mullah Baradar’s release
When asked about the possible release of Afghan Taliban’s former deputy, the spokesman maintained his earlier position that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar will be released at an appropriate time.
“The government has taken a principled decision to free the former operation commander of Afghan Taliban but would not provide any specific date or other details regarding his imminent release,” he clarified.
Pakistan-India PMs meeting
Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, while talking about the possible meeting between Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart, said the countries were in touch with each other.
“We will confirm the meeting after a decision has been made,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2013.
COMMENTS (4)
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Such issue of exploitation must be raised in UN with full support from China, Russia and OIC and a complete report on it demerits, damages and killing of innocent human must be file against USA , CIA and its cooperative agencies according to the UN charter, Human Rights Commission and International Law. No one country is allowed to violate the integrity and sovereignty of a country based on false estimation and self strategies. And it must be consider violation and contempt of war. It is an act of terrorism, act of destroying world peace and global insecurity. The UN must consider USA responsible and accountable for.
First time Govt take seriously this matter with great moment in UN. It must be affected to reducing drone strike. Well done PM.
U call his murmuring a speech. He hardly can make any speech. How comes that it would be effective. For a speech to be persuasive you need eloquence, you need vigilance, you should be possessing an agile mind and most important you have to talk sense. "Drones Promote Terrorism" is a hypothesis that has been proved void by the West and we cant stick to it anymore without providing empirical data and ample evidence. With the lack of homework in this perspective its not hard to anticipate that It would just be another thoughtless face saving attempt of a PMLN.
It was with the tacit approval of the previous regimes that the DRONES were allowed. For the use of the DRONES the government were compensated by the Americans for the fight against the Taliban. If the DRONES are stopped, then there will be financial ramifications!.