No justification for drone strikes with operation underway: UN envoy

Ambassador says strikes have devastating impact on communities in regard to safety, education and cultural practices

UNITED NATIONS: Reaffirming its stand that US drone strikes were counterproductive in combating terrorism, Pakistan on Monday called for an immediate end to such attacks on its soil to avert more civilian deaths and injuries.

"The use of armed drones against Pakistan's tribal territory violates international law by infringing our sovereignty and territorial integrity," Ambassador Masood Khan, Pakistan's permanent representative to the UN, told the General Assembly's Third Committee, which deals with social, humanitarian and cultural issues.

"Moreover, there is no justification for these strikes because Pakistan is pursuing with full vigour the Zarb-e-Azb operation to take out terrorists and dismantle their networks," he said while participating in a discussion on the annual report of the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.

The Pakistani envoy said the drone-strikes incite public sentiment and radicalise people due to the number of civilian casualties resulting from it and hence making it counterproductive in the fight against terrorism.

"Armed drone strikes have a devastating impact on individuals, children, families and communities in regard to safety, education, religious and cultural practices," he added while referring to the resolutions, passed by the Security Council, raising concerns about the use of armed drones. "The fear of secondary or fresh strikes keeps them traumatised."

Masood Khan urged the Human Rights Council to coordinate with other human rights bodies to protect civilians who were under attack by the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq. In this regard, he said the decision to dispatch a fact-finding Mission was an important step in the right direction.

The envoy also stressed that the Council should ensure its decisions were implemented faithfully and non-selectively. "In this context, it is important that the Human Rights Council follows through its decisions to protect the rights of Palestinian in the Gaza Strip and other Occupied Palestinian Territories; and the Commission of Enquiry established to investigate human rights violations during the invasion of Gaza is enabled to complete its work."