US Drone Warfare is Counterproductive
At this critical hour, when joint session of the Pakistani Parliament is debating over the 40 recommendations, made by the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) to review country’s foreign policy in general and the new relationship with the United States in particular in the backdrop of deliberate attacks on Salala outposts which killed 24 Pakistani troops on November 26 last year, and in light of the parliamentary overview, PCNS has agreed to link the NATO supply resumption to immediate cessation to the drone attacks, while US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey and Commander in Afghanistan Gen. John visited Islamabad to repair the damaged ties between both the countries, after the positive meeting of President Barrack Obama and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani in Seoul, CIA-operated drone strike killed a number of people in North Waziristan on March 30 as part of a new phase of air attacks on country’s tribal areas.
Notably, without bothering for the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty, US President Obama has recently defended these strikes by pilotless aircraft as part of American counter-insurgency programme. Although Washington has re-started these strikes as part of US covert war against Pakistan in wake of subversive acts, arranged by American CIA, Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad in order to destabilise our country for their collective strategic designs, yet these drone attacks are counterproductive not only for Pakistan and Afghanistan, but also for the US itself with far reaching implications.
These strikes by the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on FATA which have continued intermittently on Pakistan’s tribal areas since 2004 have intensified under the Obama era, killing more innocent people than a few Al Qaeda commanders. In fact, in the last three years, more than 700 innocent civilians and only 14 Al-Qaeda commanders have been killed by the US unmanned air vehicles.
Regarding drone attacks and casualties, New America Foundation pointed out in a recent report, “when the US drones attack Pakistan’s tribal areas, it is not just the 10 or 50 innocent civilians they kill, but it creates the anti-US sentiments among masses…the civilian killings provide reason to the youngsters for joining terrorist groups waging war against US and of course Pakistan…while killing 10 militants through spy planes, the US has murdered more than 1400 Pakistanis not involved in any terrorist activities. Could it not imply that it killed 10 militants and gave birth to another 1400?”
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