US Drones violate Pakistan’s sovereignty

A Pakistani opposition politician has condemned US assassination drone strikes on the country’s tribal areas, and called it a “violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.”

Imran Khan, who is the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pakistan Movement for Justice or PTI), said in a statement issued on Sunday that the CIA drone strikes are illegal under international law and the US policy is breeding extremism and terrorism in the country’s tribal belt.

On Sunday, at least 16 people were killed in another US drone strike in the tribal region near the Afghan border.

Khan slammed the government in Islamabad for allowing the United States to hit and kill any civilian at will inside Pakistani territory.

A survey, conducted by the Washington-based Pew Global Attitudes Project in June 2012, showed that former cricket star Khan was the most popular politician in the country. Khan’s stance on Washington’s war on terror, which he calls a war of terror, and his opposition to the US drone attacks have popularized him among the Pakistanis.

The PTI chief called on the government to provide details of the latest drone strike and identify those killed in the attack.

Washington claims that its airstrikes target militants crossing the border with Afghanistan, but local sources say civilians have been the main victims of the attacks.

In September 2011, a report by the Stanford Law School and the New York University School of Law gave an alarming account of the effect that assassination drone strikes have on ordinary people in Pakistan’s tribal areas. The report noted, “The number of ‘high-level’ targets killed as a percentage of total casualties is extremely low — estimated at just 2%.”