Pakistani Minister slams US drone strikes

FRANCE: Pakistan's Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, on Tuesday attacked the United States' ongoing bombing campaign against suspected militant leaders in his country.

US military and intelligence agencies fly pilotless aircraft over areas along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, firing missiles at targets suspected of links to the Taliban or to Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Pakistan, which is fighting its own campaign against the militants, has long criticised the strikes, which have been stepped up since President Barack Obama was elected and which have reportedly killed around 700 civilians.

But many observers say that Islamabad, while publicly condemning the drone attacks, is secretly cooperating with the US campaign and has provided a base from which some of the raids are operated. "Well, if you talk of drones, our whole nation has condemned them.

Our four regional assemblies, our national assembly, our senate all passed unanimous resolutions saying no to drones," Malik told France 24 television.

"If they give us real time information we're quite capable of handling Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. Paris, Wednesday, AFP