Pakistan lodges protest, stresses ‘immediate end to drone strikes’
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan summoned the US Charge d’ Affaires, Ambassador Richard Hoagland to the Foreign Office on Saturday to register a strong protest against the latest US drone strike in North Waziristan on Friday.
“It was conveyed to the US Charge d’ Affaires that the Government of Pakistan strongly condemns the drone strikes which are a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said a press release by the Pakistani Foreign Office.
“The importance of bringing an immediate end to drone strikes was emphasised,” it said.
Hoagland was summoned to the Foreign Office in Islamabad on Saturday evening on the instructions of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s, and was handed a demarche in this regard, said a press release by the Pakistani Foreign Office.
The latest drone attack on Friday in Shawal Tehsil of North Waziristan agency killed at least seven people.
It was the first such attack since Nawaz Sharif was sworn in as prime minister earlier this week.
In his inaugural address to parliament, Sharif called for an end to US drone strikes on Pakistani soil, which many view as a breach of Pakistan’s sovereignty.
The bombing comes 10 days after a similar US drone attack killed the Pakistani Taliban’s second-in-command, Waliur Rehman, and six others in a major blow to the militant group.
President Barack Obama said last month the United States would scale back drone strikes, only using them when a threat was “continuing and imminent”.
source:Dawnnews