Monday, 29 June 2009
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, on Thursday strongly condemned American drone attacks in the troubled parts of the country at Western border and said such attacks can hammer down the relationships between the two countries.
"US has been told that these attacks can harm relationship between both the countries", spokesman for the Foreign Office told media persons on Thursday.
The protest comes two a days after 80 people were killed and a large number of them sustained multiple injuries in the US drone attack in South Waziristan Agency,
What appeared to be the deadliest U.S. missile attack ever on Pakistani soil brought an unusual reaction since the fresh drone attack on Tuesday in a country that has previously denounced such strikes as an affront to its sovereignty.
The drone attacks have sparked anger among the masses and it took the people to streets in big cities like Lahore and Karachi where they condemned such attacks asking government to get stop such attacks that were proving to be lethal for innocent people of Pakistan.
A large number of people belonging from different walks of life have demanded that America must stop drone attacks on Pakistan which creating hatred among the people and causing severe difficulties to the government to maintain peace and order.
They strongly condemned another attack on Tuesday and appealed the UN to take notice of the breach of territorial sovereignty of independent State of Pakistan.
Tuesday's attack killed more than 80 people and left as many as 154 injured. The death toll may rise to some extant as most of the people sustained multiple injuries while there were hurdles in rescue work at the place of incident due to mountainous geographic of area. Moreover , the area lacks any major hospital to deal with such a huge number of injured, official sources told when contacted.
Pakistani officials believe the missiles missed its chief target, Baitullah Mehsud and hit a group of people who were busy in funeral prayer in the area. Baitullah Mehsud is the country's top Taliban leader and accused of masterminding numerous brutal operations including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
The seemingly accurate targeting appeared to point to cooperation between the U.S. military and Pakistani intelligence _ despite Pakistani denials. This was possible because Mehsud _ unlike some other U.S. foes in the northwest tribal region on the Afghan border _ is so reviled in Pakistan.
According to eye witnesses Missiles apparently fired by remote controlled aircraft first struck an alleged Taliban training center in South Waziristan, and then another barrage rained down on a funeral procession for some of those who had been killed earlier.
It is worth mentioned here that Militant leaders have been targeted in dozens of strikes in the past two years from U.S. drones believed to be high-tech, and remote control planes used for both surveillance and to fire Hellfire missiles.
Even in the past Parliament of Pakistan has loudly disapproved of past drone attacks because they involve the use of force by a foreign government on its soil and kills innocent people mostly.
It is widely believed here that Baitullah Mehsud was the prime target of US-Drones who escaped the attack a few minutes before the attack.
The offensive comes on the back of the army's operation to oust the Taliban from another northwestern stronghold in the Swat Valley region where government as well as the top military leadership claimed to have wiped out Taliban from the same area.
As a matter of fact, nation has supported military operations against the militants however it has widely condemned drone attacks in Pakistan westerns border.
"Once the impression is established that Americans are assisting in this operation, the indigenous effort will be discredited and anti-American sentiments in the tribal region will overshadow everything," analysts thinks.
