Drone strikes 'violate Pakistan sovereignty'
2013-03-15 22:11
Islamabad - US drone strikes targeting the Taliban and al-Qaeda
violate Pakistan's sovereignty because the government says publicly it has not
consented to the attacks, a UN envoy has said.
Pakistan repeatedly denounces US drone strikes,
criticising them as a violation of sovereignty that inflame anti-Americanism
despite leaked US diplomatic cables that showed leaders allegedly agreed to
them in private.
UN special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human
rights, Ben Emmerson, visited Islamabad this week as part of an investigation
into civilian casualties caused by drone strikes in Pakistan.
"The position of the government of Pakistan is quite
clear. It does not consent to the use of drones by the United States on its
territory and it considers this to be a violation of Pakistan's
sovereignty," Emmerson said.
"It involves the use of force on the territory of
another state without its consent and is, therefore, a violation of Pakistan's
sovereignty," he added in a statement released after his visit.
Emmerson, a British lawyer, said in January that a huge
expansion in unmanned aviation and their increasing use required a new legal
framework.
He is investigating whether drone attacks cause
disproportionate civilian casualties.
His report, which will also study attacks in Afghanistan,
the Palestinian territories, Somalia and Yemen, will be presented in October.
US drone strikes in Pakistan are reported in the
semi-autonomous tribal belt on the Afghan border, where journalists do not have
free access so details of casualties are notoriously difficult to confirm.
According to Britain's Bureau of Investigative
Journalism, CIA drone attacks in Pakistan have killed up to 3 577 people since
2004, up to 884 of them civilians, including 197 children.
- SAPA
