A huge gathering of tribal elders have called for an immediate end to the ongoing non-UN-sanctioned drone attacks in the northwestern Pakistan. The tribal meeting in northwestern city of Peshawar expressed serious concern over civilian casualties in drone strikes, a Press TV correspondent reported on Thursday. Several prominent leaders of political and Islamic parties also attended the tribal event.
They called on the Islamabad government to strongly condemn the attacks and to quit its alliance with the US in the so-called war on terror.
People from Pakistan’s tribal regions hold the US responsible for what they call violation of human rights and massive killings of innocent civilians through the deadly attacks in their regions.
Over 50 people have lost their lives and many more have been wounded in North Waziristan region in recent week.
The unsanctioned US airstrikes in Pakistan have increased since President Barack Obama took office in 2009.
Washington claims its airstrikes target militants who cross the Pakistani border into Afghanistan to help the Taliban fight US-led foreign forces.
However, locals say civilians are the main victims of the non-UN-sanctioned attacks. Thousands of civilians have reportedly been killed in about 200 drone raids over the past six years.
The United Nations says the US-operated drone strikes in Pakistan pose a growing challenge to the international rule of law.
Philip Alston, UN special envoy on extrajudicial killings, said in a report in late October that the attacks were undermining the rules designed to protect the right of life.
Alston also said he feared that the drone killings by the US Central Intelligence Agency could develop a “playstation” mentality.
A recent report by the Brookings Institution says the illegal strikes have taken the lives of 10 civilians for every militant killed.
Islamabad has repeatedly condemned the strikes as a violation of its sovereignty, asserting that such attacks have proved counterproductive in US-led war against terrorism.
Source: Press TV