Pakistan condemns US drone attacks

Last Updated: Thursday, May 24, 2012, 20:17

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Tags: US drone attacks, Pakistan, NATO

Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday strongly condemned American drone strikes in its tribal belt along the border with Afghanistan, describing them as "illegal" and a "total violation" of its sovereignty but said it intended to resolve all issues with the US through dialogue.

The Pakistan government has a clear policy that the US drone attacks are "illegal, a violation of international law and unacceptable", Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam Khan told a weekly news briefing.

Khan was speaking hours after a US drone struck a compound in the lawless North Waziristan tribal region, killing 10 suspected militant. Yesterday, four suspected militants were killed in another drone strike in the same area.

The back-to-back missile attacks came days after Pakistan failed to announce the reopening of supply routes for foreign forces in Afghanistan at a NATO Summit in Chicago.

Asked why Pakistan had not taken the issue of drone strikes to the UN if the attacks were a violation of the international law, Khan said, "We want to resolve the issue bilaterally."

However, he acknowledged that the option of approaching the UN or the International Court of Justice were open to Pakistan.

Both Pakistan and the US had acknowledged the importance of their relationship and the two sides want to solve their issues through negotiations, he said.

The two countries were discussing all issues "with the spirit and view" to find mutually acceptable solutions, he added.

"It is an important relationship and there is a mutual desire" to normalise ties as soon as possible, Khan said.

In response to another question, Khan said he was not aware where the US drones were taking off from.

Pakistan closed the NATO supply routes in November, when 24 of its soldiers were killed in an air strike carried out by US forces in Afghanistan.

It also forced American personnel to vacate Shamsi airbase, considered a hub for CIA-operated drones.

After President Asif Ali Zardari was extended a last minute invitation to the NATO Summit in Chicago, it was widely expected that he would announce the reopening of the supply routes at the conference.

However, Pakistan and the US were unable to conclude a deal on the supply lines and President Barack Obama refused to hold a one-to-one meeting with Zardari.

PTI

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First Published: Thursday, May 24, 2012, 20:17

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Michael - Mexico
Instead of moaning about it, if they really want to protect their people, the government of Pakistan should prosecute the US in the court of human rights for violation of human rights. You have to remember, it is people that are firing these missiles, not a machine, they may not have a pilot on board, but they do have one. Prosecute the individuals for murder, maybe they will then get the message that it is not ok to continually kill people, because they THINK there may be a terrorist there, a terrorist they themselves have created. Every time it happens, there needs to be a prosecution, even if the twin towers was done by Muslims which it wasn’t, this has gone way beyond retribution, this is killing for the sake of it, just like in Palestine, by the Jews. What is wrong with people, do they have to see the bodies on their front lawns to know what is going on, they nearly all have access to computers, or are they too busy filling out their “facebook” rubbish? As for the media, they complain about their own being murderers all over the world, but do they help them selves, no, they ignore the truth, so the truth ignores them. Truth works in both directions. They start telling it, we start supporting their protests against the murder of newspaper people.

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Parvin - USA
Pakistan should not open the supply route to Nato and US. Let the murdrers suffer like people of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and other places have suffered.