Latest US Drone Attack Kills More Than Taliban Chief
PESHAWAR – The drone attack that killed Tehreek Taliban Pakistan chief Hakimullah Mahsud this week seems also to have killed hopes that drone attacks will end.
“After the recent debate in international media about U.S-led drone attacks, there was some hope these illegal strikes would end,” Muhammad Bashir a dental surgeon from North Waziristan Agency, tells IPS.
But the attack coming a day before talks between the Pakistani government and the Pakistani Taliban has sabotaged peace talks, the Pakistani government says.
“There’s no precise data about the civilians killed in these attacks because these took place near the Pak-Afghan border. It was not possible for media or the general public to visit the scenes.”
It is not just the Taliban who fear drone attacks. Bashir left North Waziristan a year back. He says they passed sleepless nights due to fear of drones that were meant to target terrorists. “Every day we see dozens of drone aircraft buzzing over people live in constant fear. There’s no precise data about the civilians killed in these attacks because these took place near the Pak-Afghan border. It was not possible for media or the general public to visit the scenes.”
But Pakistan’s ministry of defense told parliament Oct. 31 that only 67 civilians were among 2,227 people killed in 317 drone strikes in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) since 2008. Pakistan had recently told the UN that at least 400 civilians had been killed in drone attacks since 2004.
The Pakistani defence ministry statement endorses the U.S. position that these attacks have killed only a few civilians. The government had been blaming the U.S. for breach of its sovereignty.
Bashir says the attacks don’t do any good, and only increase the number of U.S. enemies. Many people know relatives of drone victims, he says.
“The strikes cause fear in women and children as there is no guarantee that these missile will kill terrorists. These are more likely to destroy places located near the target.”
Isa Ahmed says he left his village in North Waziristan to live in nearby Bannu, one of the 25 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, because of endless drone strikes and the militancy. Most people, he says, support the anti-drone campaign.
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