March 20, 2011 12:11 PM ET
By Bill Roggio
By Bill Roggio
Despite the public protests by top Pakistani political leaders and General Kayani over last Thursday's US Predator strike that killed more than 30 (or 40 depending on which report you reference) people in North Waziristan, and vague threats to shoot the aircraft down, the unmanned hunter-killers continue to fly over the tribal agency. Dawn reports:
Five to eight drones were seen flying at high altitude over different areas of the region where an unmanned aircraft attacked a tribal jirga on Thursday, killing 45 civilians.
Islamabad lodged a protest with Washington on Friday and announced withdrawal from the coming trilateral ministerial meeting on the Afghan issue.
People in Miramshah, the administrative headquarters of North Waziristan, said that drones, locally known as "Bungara", hovered over the agency throughout the day.
"This is now a routine matter. People here can spot Bungara in the sky very easily," said a resident of Miramshah.
And now, the Pakistan Air Force has denied that its forces have gone on high alert to repel the Predators and Reapers:
Some foreign news outlets reported on Saturday that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) had been put on high alert after Thursday's deadly drone attack. However, a PAF spokesman, Air Commodore Tariq Qamar Yazdanie, denied such reports.
Meanwhile, Hafiz Gul Bahadar has threatened to end the peace deal with the Pakistani government. Again, Dawn reports:
"The peace agreement was made for the establishment of peace in the region but the people of North Waziristan are continuously being targeted with drone attacks and now the jirga's are not even safe," said Gul Bahadur's spokesperson.
Gul Bahadur warned that if drone attacks and the series of civilians deaths did not stop he would consider ending the three-year long peace deal.
Keep in mind that Bahadar has violated the peace agreement from day one by allowing the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan (Hakeemullah Mehsud's pan-Taliban movement, of which Bahadar is not a part), al Qaeda, and allied domestic and foreign terror groups to shelter in North Waziristan.
0 comments:
Post a Comment