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Pervez Musharraf admits permitting 'a few' US drone strikes in Pakistan
Source: The Guardian
Pervez Musharraf admits permitting 'a few' US drone strikes in Pakistan
Jon Boone in Islamabad and Peter Beaumont
guardian.co.uk, Friday 12 April 2013 14.39 BST
Pakistan's former president Pervez Musharraf has admitted he secretly gave permission for the CIA to launch drone attacks inside his country, directly contradicting repeated claims by the Pakistani government that it has never authorised drone strikes.
His comments in an CNN interview screened on Thursday night follow US media claims earlier in the week that Pakistani officials were for years intimately involved in the US drone campaign in the country.
The unexpected admission breaks Pakistan's policy of blanket denial of involvement. Last month following a visit to Islamabad, Ben Emmerson QC, the UN's special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, said he had been given assurances that there was no "tacit consent by Pakistan to the use of drones on its territory".
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Musharraf said Pakistan gave permission "only on a few occasions, when a target was absolutely isolated and (there was) no chance of collateral damage".
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Jon Boone in Islamabad and Peter Beaumont
guardian.co.uk, Friday 12 April 2013 14.39 BST
Pakistan's former president Pervez Musharraf has admitted he secretly gave permission for the CIA to launch drone attacks inside his country, directly contradicting repeated claims by the Pakistani government that it has never authorised drone strikes.
His comments in an CNN interview screened on Thursday night follow US media claims earlier in the week that Pakistani officials were for years intimately involved in the US drone campaign in the country.
The unexpected admission breaks Pakistan's policy of blanket denial of involvement. Last month following a visit to Islamabad, Ben Emmerson QC, the UN's special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, said he had been given assurances that there was no "tacit consent by Pakistan to the use of drones on its territory".
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Musharraf said Pakistan gave permission "only on a few occasions, when a target was absolutely isolated and (there was) no chance of collateral damage".
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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/12/musharraf-admits-permitting-drone-strikes
