Ongoing campaign : Pakistan irked by US drone strike

Foreign office condemns latest attack in North Waziristan.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday strongly condemned the latest drone strike in North Waziristan as a violation of the country’s territorial sovereignty.

Thursday’s attack took place in Lawara Mandi area of the tribal agency bordering Afghanistan, killing at least 7 suspected militants and injuring two others. The military is battling Taliban militants in the area.



“We condemn such strikes which are in disregard of our territorial sovereignty and international law. These events also generate distrust among the local populace.  We reiterate our call for cessation of such strikes,” Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah said in a statement.

Islamabad regularly issues such statements criticizing Washington for drone strikes in the restive tribal region. The statements are now seen as a ritual as Pakistan and the US are believed to have tacit understanding on Pentagon’s campaign.

There has been significant decline in the frequency of such strikes ever since Pakistani military launched a full-scale military offensive in North Waziristan. The aerial attack comes after a month’s pause. The last strike in the area was reported in June.

Military claimed to have cleared majority of the area but a cleanup operation is still underway in certain pockets close to the Pak-Afghan border.

In a briefing in Washington on Wednesday, US Special Representatives of Afghanistan and Pakistan Daniel Feldman, urged the South Asian ally to do more against the Haqqani network, a declared terrorist body on Washington’s list of troublemakers in the region.

“Just as they have vigorously pursued the Pakistani Taliban, they must take equally forceful actions against groups like the Haqqani Network, which pose serious threats to American (and Afghan) lives and resources, and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, which has the potential to destabilise the region,” he said while giving a farewell speech at the State Department.

This trust-deficit could be the possible reason that the US is till continuing with its drone programme although it has officially completed the combat mission in neighboring Afghanistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 8^th, 2015.