Imran`s party accuses CIA director of murder over drone strike

Islamabad: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan`s party today sought the arrest of the CIA director and an alleged station chief for a recent drone strike that killed at least six Afghans, including three senior commanders of the dreaded Haqqani terror network. The Tehrik-e-Insaaf Party (PTI) has written to the police in northwest Pakistan, identifying the alleged CIA station chief as Craig Osth and seeking his interrogation. "Ministry of Interior should put his name Exit Control List as he may try to escape," the party`s spokesperson Shireen Mazari said in a press conference here. The US Embassy remained tightlipped on the issue. "I cannot comment anything on this. We are looking into it," an Embassy spokesperson told PTI when asked about Mazari`s statement. Mazari said the American officer was responsible for the drone attack and said he does not have diplomatic immunity. The letter also mentioned the name of CIA director John Brennan. "Craig Osth and his allies (names not known yet) threw a GPS (Global Positioning System) device at a targeted house/car and the drone (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), which is remotely controlled from undisclosed location, to strike at the target," the statement given to the police said.

Khan`s party was left embarrassed after the police in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, ruled by it, registered an FIR against unknown persons. Even though Imran and the Pakistan Foreign Office had claimed innocents and children were killed in the drone strike last week in Hangu, the FIR registered by the police said all the those killed were Afghans and there were no children. Imran had promised to release pictures of the "victims" but has not done so yet. This is now the first time that the name of the CIA station chief has been public. In 2011, then CIA station head in Islamabad, had to leave after his name was leaked. The CIA Islamabad station chief is considered to be one of the US agency`s most important positions in the world. In 2010, the CIA pulled its then station chief out of Pakistan after his cover was blown up in a lawsuit filed by relatives of drone attack victims. One of the biggest operational base for CIA used to be Pakistan due to the security dynamic of the region. After the CIA contractor Raymond Davis saga, and the May 2, 2011 operation by US commandos that killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, Pakistan security forces had pressured the Americans to pull out many "private CIA contractors" operating in the country.