Pakistan lodges strong protest with US over Noshki drone strike
- By Web Desk -
- May 23, 2016
Special Assistant to the PM (SAPM) on Foreign Affairs, Syed Tariq Fatemi today summoned the US ambassador to express concerns over Saturday’s strike on its territory, according to a FO statement.
In the meeting, Fatemi pointed out that the drone strike was a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and a breach of the United Nation’s charter that guarantees the inviolability of the territorial integrity of its member states.
He emphasized that such actions could adversely impact the ongoing efforts by the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) for facilitating peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
The SAPM also underlined that Pakistan and the US had been closely coordinating in the fight against the menace of terrorism and that this cooperation needed to be maintained.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) submitted an adjournment motion in the Senate of Pakistan expressing concerns over the drone strike, with Senator Farhatullah Babar saying that the matter is significant enough to be debated in the House.
Punjab Assembly also passed a condemnation motion against the attack presented by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI). The motion termed these strikes a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and security.
A US drone strike near Pak-Afghan border in Noshki, Balochistan, purportedly left Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mansour and another man dead on Saturday.
Mansour was appointed head of the Taliban in July 2015 following the revelation that the group’s founder Mullah Omar had in fact been dead for two years. He was widely blamed for leading the cover-up.