Pakistan to take US drone attacks to UN

Pakistan has announced that it intends to complain to UN Human Rights Council about non-UN-sanctioned US drone strikes in its northwestern tribal belt near the border with Afghanistan.
The Pakistani parliament is going to collect data about civilian deaths caused by US assassination drone strikes against the South Asian country’s territory. It will then submit the data as part of a complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Council about the terror attacks, antiwar.com website reported on Wednesday.
The US regularly carries out attacks by unmanned aircraft on Pakistan’s tribal regions, claiming the airstrikes target pro-Taliban militants. But locals say civilians are the main victims of the non-UN-sanctioned US strikes.
The aerial attacks, initiated by former US President George W. Bush, have escalated under President Barack Obama.
While the US government has always declined to publicly discuss its aerial attacks in Pakistan, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta admitted on October 11 that the US is fighting a war in Pakistan by using the drones.
Relations between Islamabad and Washington have soured over the unauthorized attacks, with Pakistan insisting that the airstrikes violate its sovereignty.
On October 9, Pakistani Foreign Office spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua said the US drone attacks on its territory were unacceptable and a violation of the country’s sovereignty.
“It is very clear that drone attacks are against the sovereignty of Pakistan,” Janjua stated.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Human Rights has meanwhile asked the government to complain about the ‘extra-judicial killings’ to the United Nations and other international bodies.
The UN has already condemned the US use of combat drones against other countries as a blatant violation of international law.
Philip Alston, UN special envoy on extrajudicial killings, said in a report in late October 2010 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.

Source: Press TV