Pakistan condemns fresh US drone strike that killed three people

Pakistan on Thursday strongly condemned a latest U.S. drone strike in the country’s North Waziristan tribal region which killed at least three people.

The spy aircraft, in a pre-dawn attack, fired missiles in Miranshah, the center of North Waziristan, security officials and residents said.

“The Government of Pakistan strongly condemns the US drone strike that took place in Miranshah, North Waziristan in early hours of 31 October. These strikes are a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Foreign Ministry said.

“There is an across the board consensus in Pakistan that these drone strikes must end,” a Foreign Ministry statement said hours after the strike.

It said the Government of Pakistan has consistently maintained that drone strikes are counter-productive, entail loss of innocent civilian lives and have human rights and humanitarian implications.

“Such strikes also set dangerous precedents in the inter-state relations,” the Foreign Ministry warned.

It went on to say that these drone strikes have a negative impact on the mutual desire of both countries to forge a cordial and cooperative relationship and to ensure peace and stability in the region.

The Thursday attack was the first strike in almost a month with the last drone attack being reported on September 30.

The attack comes almost a week after a rights groups Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch both released their reports on drone strikes and followed a report by UN Special Rapproteur on the same topic.

The strike occurred juts days after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif raised the issue of drone attacks with President Barrack Obama at the White House.

Pakistan regularly condemns the attacks as a violation of sovereignty and are counter productive.

On Wednesday, the Pakistani Senate was told by the interior ministry in a written statement that only 67 civilians had been killed in drone strikes since 2008, a figure in conflict with other numbers previously released by the government and those cited by rights groups.

The submission said there had been 317 drone strikes in Pakistan since 2008, killing 2,160 militants and 67 civilians.

Opposition groups disputed the official figures and insisted that civilian deaths are high than the government has presented in the parliament.