UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan on Thursday raised the issue of US drone strikes in its tribal regions at the United Nations Security Council, calling for their cessation and seeking urgent talks to resolve the problem.
“Drone strikes infringe our sovereignty, violate international law, including international human rights and humanitarian law, cause civilian casualties and are detrimental to the combined efforts to fight terrorism,” Pakistan’s envoy at the UN Masood Khan told the 15-nation council during a discussion on the situation in Afghanistan.
“Pakistan is facilitating the Afghan reconciliation process, but progress is attainable only if all stakeholders share the goals of the peace process,” Khan said. “We need to pursue this goal together, with unity of purpose.”
“We call for cessation of drone strikes. Urgent and intense dialogue can help resolve this issue,” Khan said.
Meanwhile, in his address to the opening session of the 24th Human Rights Council, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Zamir Akram had said that Pakistan, a primary target of drone attacks, had suffered a heavy loss of innocent lives apart from widespread social and economic costs.
Akram had said that in recent years, there had been severe human rights violations across the globe, as a result of indiscriminate use of force in the context of counter-terrorism efforts.
The ambassador had said these included illegal detentions, renditions, and extrajudicial killings including through use of drone attacks.
