When the militants claimed responsibility for carrying
out brazen attacks on the country’s busiest airport on 9 June, the
unmanned CIA aircraft hit their hideouts in North Waziristan. According to
the international news agency Reuters, two top officials of the government of
Pakistan told on condition of anonymity that Washington was working
in tandem with Islamabad. The latter gave “express approval” to the
Americans to carry out drone strikes inside Pakistan.
Some clues suggest that the above piece of news may be spot on.
At first the ministry of foreign affairs stated that no drone strikes have been
carried out on Pakistan soil. The prime minister, the defence minister
and other top officials at the helm did not condemn the US strikes as a violation
of the country’s sovereignty. Also, given that last year the US halted
drone strikes at our request, now it is reasonable to believe that the
Americans have resumed them on our government’s request.
There are two prisms through which we can see the use of
the armed drones. The CIA conducts covert drone operations to hit the
militants who are the enemies of the state and the target of the armed forces
too. Which is why the civilian administration approves the drone strikes.
According to the UK-based news agency Reuters, the government of Pakistan
publicly opposes the drone strikes saying they cause loss of innocent lives and
violate the country’s sovereignty, while in private the officials admit the rulers
support them. But the fact remains that they violate Pakistan’s territorial integrity.
Is there any sovereign nation in the world which will allow the US to use
drone strikes as a counter-terrorism measure on its soil?
Instead of
requesting the super power to use the remotely piloted aircraft on
militants in Pakistan in order to stamp out terrorism, the government
should allow the Pakistani military to pounds their havens in Waziristan.
Should the civilian political bosses authorize the US to pound the tribal
areas, it will muddy the waters enough to make the fight against
militancy harder. A possible danger of strikes is bringing together of the
fractured TTP. The insurgents holed up in Waziristan give the impression to
those who are willing to listen to them that the government in the saddle
right now is the puppet of the US, so holy war against the state is an obligation.
Please check the following website to learn
that the government of Pakistan secretly requested the US to carry out drone
strikes inside Pakistan.
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