Pakistan warns US over drone strikes
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan warned that the continued US drone attacks might lead to a direct standoff between Washington and Islamabad.
Meanwhile, at a news conference, Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry also said that the use of drones by the US is a major hindrance to the betterment of mutual ties between the two countries.
In a latest attack, the US assassination drones on Wednesday fired four missiles at a house in Miran Shah, in North Waziristan, which killed 17 people and injured six others.
The strike was the second drone strike on Pakistan after Nawaz Sharif was elected prime minister on June 5, 2013.
Premier Sharif recently blasted the US assassination drone strikes in his country, describing them as a violation of international law and the UN Charter.
Sharif has also called a meeting of the heads of political parties in Islamabad next week to evolve a strategy against the continued US drone attacks.
Washington claims that the airstrikes target militants, but reports on the ground show that civilians have been the main victims of the attacks.
US President Barack Obama recently defended the controversial use of the drones as an act of “self-defense.”
The aerial attacks, initiated by former US President George W. Bush, have been escalated under President Obama.
The United Nations and several human rights organizations have already identified the US as the world's number-one user of the “targeted killing” methods largely due to its drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan.