ISLAMABAD
Pakistan's lower house, the National assembly on Tuesday adopted a unanimous resolution condemning the deadly drone strikes by the CIA on the country’s northern tribal belt, which the US deems as the heartland of militancy.
The resolution was adopted only a day after the US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel refused to give assurances in halting the deadly strikes during his meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and newly appointed army chief, General Raheel Sharif in Islamabad.
Proposed by a female parliamentarian Naima Kishwar belonging to Jamat-e-Islami, one of the country’s two mainstream religious parties, the resolution urged the US to stop drone strikes immediately as “they are against the sovereignty of the country. The resolution further said that the drone strikes are not only in violation of the country’s sovereignty but also a brazen violation of UN charter and human rights.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in his meeting with Mr Hagel on Monday had reiterated his country’s customary demand for halting the drone attacks that have provoked anti-US sentiments across this only nuclear Muslim state. Whilst Pakistan publicly opposes the drone strikes, however, there is a general impression in Pakistan that they are being carried out in line with a tacit agreement between the two allies in a so-called 'war on terror'.
The US is facing a barrage of criticism for illegal drone operations against the country it is not at war with - not only by the human rights groups, including Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, but also by the United Nations. However, an undaunted US claims that drone strikes are targeting terrorists who pose a serious threat to its national security.
Human rights groups, and international think tanks however contest the US claim. According to New American Foundation, a US-based think tank, over 3,000 people, 70 per cent of which were unarmed civilians, including women and children have been killed in 372 drone strikes on Waziristan region since 2004. The think tank says that the number of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants killed in drone strikes vary from 116 to 300.
North Waziristan is considered the bastion of the powerful Haqqani network blamed for some deadliest attacks on foreign forces in neighboring Afghanistan, including the capital city of Kabul.
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