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Saturday, March 19, 2011
Pakistan summons US envoy, demands apology over drone attackDon’t take Pakistan for granted
* Munter told ‘such strikes are not only unacceptable but also constitute a flagrant violation of humanitarian norms and law’
* US envoy says he understands Pak protest was not a formality and that he would swiftly convey its message to US administration
* Haqqani has been asked to make a similar strong protest to State Dept
ISLAMABAD: Reacting to Thursday’s US-led drone strike which killed around 40 people in the country’s northwest tribal region, Islamabad on Friday told Washington not to take it for granted or treat it as a client state. It also demanded an apology and explanation from Washington.
“Pakistan should not be taken for granted nor treated as a client state,” said an official statement as Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir lodged a strong protest with US ambassador Cameron Munter, who was summoned to the Foreign Office (FO) in pursuance of the directives of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani a day after the predator attack on a tribal jirga in Datta Khel region of North Waziristan Agency.
Pakistan termed the attack as “unacceptable” and “a flagrant violation of humanitarian norms and law”.
The FO statement said that Munter was informed in categorical terms that with this incident “it was evident that the fundamentals of our relations need to be revisited. It was for the White House and the State Department to hold back those who have been trying to veer Pakistan-US relationship away from the track”.
“Munter said he understood that Islamabad’s protest was not a ‘pro forma demarche’ (a formality) and that he would swiftly convey its message to the highest levels of the US administration,” the Foreign Ministry said.
“The government of Pakistan strongly condemns the drone strike which has resulted in a large number of casualties,” the ministry’s spokeswoman, Tehmina Janjua, said in the statement.
“The foreign secretary has conveyed this strong condemnation to the US ambassador and has demanded an apology and explanation,” she added.
Tehmina said that Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani, had also been asked to make a similar strong protest to the State Department.
Earlier, the prime minister condemned the attack as “irrational”, saying it would only strengthen the hands of radical and extremist elements.
Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had condemned the drone strike as “unjustifiable and intolerable”.
“It is highly regrettable that a jirga of peaceful citizens, including elders of the area, was carelessly and callously targeted with complete disregard to human life,” he said in a statement issued late on Thursday.
The US has been attacking al Qaeda-linked terrorists for the past few years in the country’s tribal areas using drones, which are a source of worry for the government because civilians casualties inflame public anger and bolster support for terrorists. agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk