Pakistan plans to take US drone issue to UN

PAKISTAN: Pakistan says it plans to take the issue of US assassination drone attacks on its territory to the United Nations General Assembly in September. Pakistani sources said on Sunday that Islamabad will also contact with the Human Rights Commission to discuss the drone strikes.

The move came days after UN Special Rapporteur Ben Emmerson announced the launching of an investigation by UN experts to inspect 25 terror drone attacks carried out in Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories by the US, UK and Israel.

The UN official further said that the assassination drones are not the only manner of conducting targeted killings, “but the relative ease with which they are used and their devastating effects have spotlighted the legal unease around them,” the report adds.

Ties between Pakistan and the US have already been tense over the air raids which are viewed by Islamabad as violation of its sovereignty. Last week, Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar expressed concern over the US assassination drone strikes in her country, describing them as “counterproductive.”

“We repeatedly have raised our concerns on the US drone strikes which are proving counterproductive…,” she said in a statement released on January 22. Referring to thousands of Pakistani civilians who have been killed by CIA-operated drones in recent years, she went on to say that Islamabad “will take up drone attacks issue with Washington and its ambassador to Pakistan.” Pakistan’s tribal regions are attacked by US terror drones almost regularly, with Washington claiming that militants are the targets. However, casualty figures clearly indicate that civilians are the main victims. Despite Pakistan’s repeated calls on the US to end the drone attacks, the US government continues its deadly strikes on the country’s tribal belt.

Over the past few months, massive protests have also been staged across Pakistan to condemn the United States for violating the country's sovereignty. The US military also uses its assassination drones to hit targets in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and Afghanistan.

PRESS TV