Pakistan

More drones on FATA skyline

The US is intensifying its drone attacks on the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, even as  the Pakistani army’s plans for operation against Islamist militants in North Waziristan are still wrapped in mystery.

The latest attack on Friday August 24 involved missile strikes from CIA-controlled drones on three separate locations in North Waziristan. According to unnamed Pakistani intelligence officials, 18 “suspected militants” were killed. As in previous attacks, most casualties would undoubtedly have been civilians, including women and children. The Associated Press reported that the strikes came just minutes apart on mud brick compounds located several kilometres from each other in the Shawal Valley. The area is mountainous and heavily forested, and serves as a crossing point into Afghanistan for insurgent groups opposed to the US-led occupation.

Citing local tribesmen, the Pakistani newspaper, News International, reported: “The people who helped retrieve the bodies from the debris of the collapsed buildings said all the bodies had been burnt and torn into pieces. They said the bodies were beyond recognition.” Some 14 injured people were taken to local health facilities, where doctors reported that most were in a critical condition.

The drone attacks came less than 24 hours after Islamabad had issued a formal protest to an unnamed senior American diplomat over attacks earlier in the week. A Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman described the drone strikes as “illegal and unproductive”.

Washington simply ignored the protest—the eighth in the 12 months—as the Pakistani government and military give their tacit approval to the drone strikes. The formal protests are a threadbare attempt by the government to placate widespread public anger, especially in the FATA region, over the relentless US attacks.

At least four CIA drone attacks took place last week in North Waziristan. On August 18, drone missiles struck an alleged militant hideout, killing at least five people claimed to be allies of a local warlord, Hafiz Gul Bahadur. The following day, US drones fired missiles, killing 10 “suspected militants” in two separate strikes. Another strike took place on Tuesday last week.

US and Pakistani officials claimed on Saturday, Aug 25, that Badruddin Haqqani, the head of operations for the Haqqani network, had been killed in the attack. A senior Pakistani intelligence official told Reuters that Badruddin had fled a compound after it was hit by a missile but was killed by a second drone strike on a car in which he was travelling. .

The Haqqani network is just one of the tribal militias waging war in neighbouring Afghanistan against the US-led forces. Badruddin is believed to have masterminded several high-profile attacks in Kabul, including the one on embassies and parliament in April that lasted for 18 hours. While the US State Department has branded most of the Haqqani leaders individually as “global terrorists,” it has yet to designate the network as a whole as a terrorist organisation, as that would preclude ongoing attempts to establish negotiations.

Washington has long demanded that the Pakistani army launch a military offensive in North Waziristan, along the lines of its campaigns in other FATA agencies. In 2009, the military sent 30,000 troops, backed by war planes and heavy artillery, into South Waziristan, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee. The US has accused the Pakistani military of refusing to do the same in North Waziristan in order to protect relations between the Haqqani network and the military’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.

Relations between the US and Pakistan were severely strained by the attack deep inside Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011, and the air strikes at Salalah border post last November that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. In retaliation and faced with a public outcry, Islamabad shut down NATO supply routes through Pakistan to Afghanistan.  The stand off ended in July after Washington obliged Islamabad with a regret for Nov foray. In return Pakistan will do no more than proforma protests at escalating drone strikes. Both agreed on a military offensive into North Waziristan; timing of the action is left to Rawalpindi.

Already in anticipation of the operation, there is a mass exodus from North Waziristan. Those on the run include hundreds of militants from Central Asian countries like Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, according to a report in Dawn.

-m rama rao

Sharing:

Your comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *