Islamabad, Sept 20(ANI): Pakistan's Human Rights Ministry (HRM) has decided to take up the matter of US drone attacks with the United Nations under international humanitarian law, and file an official complaint to the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
Addressing a media briefing, Mustafa Nawaz Khokar, Adviser to Prime Minister Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, said that the matter would be discussed with all stakeholders of the government after taking them on board, and an official complaint would be lodged against the US drone campaign inside Pakistan.
He categorically made it clear that drone strikes are not acceptable, and said that the debate has so far only circled around loss of collateral damages, and not about the specific legislation of the strikes in the light of international humanitarian law (law of war).
Khokar said that apart from being in violation of Pakistan's territorial sovereignty, there was growing consensus among international law experts that these strikes could be described as "target killing", or "extrajudicial killing", primarily because the targets were being 'taken out' without giving them any opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law.
Giving brief description of the history of drone attacks, Khokar said that the first drone attack was striked at Jordan, and that the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions took serious notice of the attack and ask the US government to explain their position in this regard.
Khokar also said that a photo exhibition would start in London on Tuesday, titled "Gaming in Waziristan", in which snapshots of drone attacks victims, including corpses of children, women, clothes, shoes and other belongings of these people, would be displayed to unveil the reality in front of international forums. (ANI)
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