Rein in the terror drones, Pakistani PM tells US

Sharif made the remarks during a meeting with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle in Islamabad on Saturday, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
 
US drone strikes are a violation of international law and infringe on Pakistan’s sovereignty, the newly sworn-in Pakistani prime minister stated.
 
“Drone attacks must stop. We have protested many a time. This is simply unacceptable,” he added.
 
The United States says the CIA-run drone strikes primarily kill Taliban militants who threaten the US-led international forces in neighboring Afghanistan, although casualty figures show that Pakistani civilians are often the victims of the non-UN-sanctioned attacks.
 
With around 4,300 troops deployed in the provinces of Kunduz, Balkh, and Badakhshan, Germany has the third largest contingent in Afghanistan after the US and Britain.
 
On Friday night, US assassination drones carried out another deadly airstrike on Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal area, which borders Afghanistan.
 
US drones fired two missiles into a compound in a village in the Shawal district of North Waziristan, killing nine people.
 
Sharif summoned the US charge d'affaires on Saturday to protest against the drone attacks.
 
In his inaugural address on Wednesday, the Pakistani prime minister called for an immediate end to the US drone strikes.
 
On Saturday, the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a statement on the issue, saying Pakistan would not tolerate any more drone strikes.
 
"It was conveyed to the US charge d’affaires that the government of Pakistan strongly condemns the drone strikes, which are a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity," the statement said.
 
"The importance of bringing an immediate end to drone strikes was emphasized," the communiqué added.
 
On May 29, a US drone attack killed four to seven people in Miran Shah, the main town of North Waziristan.
 
According to the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the United States’ drone strikes in Pakistan have killed up to 3,603 people since 2004.
 
The slaughter of Pakistani civilians, including women and children, in US drone strikes has strained relations between Islamabad and Washington, and Pakistani officials have complained to the US administration on numerous occasions.
 
In September 2012, a report by the Stanford Law School and the New York University School of Law gave an alarming account of the effect that assassination drone strikes have on ordinary people in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
 
“The number of ‘high-level’ targets killed as a percentage of total casualties is extremely low -- estimated at just 2%,” the report noted.