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Saturday, May 21, 2011
Pakistan Army denies COAS sought drone coverage in 2008* Pakistan Army says no armed drone attack support has ever been asked for our operations which have been conducted using own resources
* Says there has only been sharing of technical intelligence in some areas
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army, on Friday, sternly refuted the assertions made in a fresh batch of cables released by WikiLeaks that charged the country’s top military leader with having “tacitly agreed to the controversial drone campaign” asking Washington for “continuous Predator coverage” over the Tribal Areas.
In a terse statement, the army denied the contents of the cable, saying, “No armed drone attack support has ever been asked for our operations which have been conducted using own resources.”
“In the past, there has only been sharing of technical intelligence in some areas,” it added.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has often publicly criticised drone strikes, with his strongest objections on March 17 when a US drone strike killed at least 45 people in North Waziristan. He had called the strike “unjustified and intolerable”.
According to recently released US State Department cables, Pakistan’s top military leader had not only tacitly agreed to the controversial drone campaign against terrorists, in 2008 he had asked Washington for continuous Predator coverage over the Tribal Areas. A fresh batch of cables released by WikiLeaks said that Kayani had asked Admiral William J Fallon, then commander of US Central Command, for increased surveillance and round-the-clock Predator coverage over North and South Waziristan.
“Referring to the situation in Waziristan,” the February 11, 2008 cable says, “Kayani asked if Fallon could assist in providing continuous Predator coverage of the conflict area.” In the cable, released in partnership with a Pakistani daily, and India’s The Hindu and NDTV, Fallon had “regretted that he did not have the assets to support this request”. But, he had offered US personnel to aid Pakistan in command and control for its attack aircraft.
Kayani had said this offer would “not be politically acceptable”.
Perceived violations of Pakistani sovereignty by the United States have been aggravated since the secret May 2 raid on Abbottabad that killed Osama bin Laden. While the US has generally focussed on how bin Laden had been able to hide in Pakistan for six years or more, the Pakistani leadership and the military have concentrated on how US special forces were able to operate with impunity inside Pakistan for more than an hour.
Also on Friday, two missiles fired by a drone hit a vehicle in North Waziristan, killing six terrorists, officials said. reuters
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk