Pakistan Summons US Diplomat Over Drone Strike
Formal Protest Lodged Over Attack on North Waziristan
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry has summoned a top US diplomat today and lodged a formal protest over yesterday’s US drone strike on an abandoned Pakistani high school in North Waziristan, killing four people.
The Foreign Ministry also issued a statement warning that the the attack was a “total contravention of international law and established norms of interstate relations.” It was the first attack since Pakistan’s parliament conditioned the the normalization of diplomatic ties on ending the US strikes.
The summoning also complicates White House claims that its drone program is legal, since it insisted this was predicated on the approval of the nation being attacked, and Pakistan is clearly no longer even turning a blind eye to such strikes.
Pakistani officials have repeatedly issued public demands for the attacks to stop recently, but summoning a diplomat and issuing a formal protest is a further step, suggesting that patience is running extremely thin.
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JLS
April 30th, 2012 at 8:24 pm
Does Pakistan have the capabilty to shoot down US drones that violate its airspace? Could Pakistan take the US govt. to some sort of court?
Ken
April 30th, 2012 at 9:12 pm
Gotta wonder how much more the Pakis will put up with Borat Obombthem.
I keep expecting to see some Dien Bien Phus over there.
jeff_davis
April 30th, 2012 at 9:58 pm
The drones are not stealthy, maneuverable,or fast, nor do they possess any defensive capability. Consequently they can easily be shot down. If Pakistan's military doesn't shoot them down, you may draw your own conclusion as to why. Personally, I suspect it may have something to do with the one point something billion dollars of military aid that the Pakistani military receives from the US.
El Tonno
May 1st, 2012 at 3:27 am
S'truth, but wouldn't you need an AWACS in the air to find them?
masmanz
May 1st, 2012 at 9:39 am
I am sure they can shoot down the drones, but then F16's and B52's and other nice gadgets will follow. Shooting them down would mean an all out war. Perhaps that is the purpose of the drone attacks in the first place. The various US administrations have been looking for enemies since the fall of the Soviets. Iraq and Afghanistan were too easy but still managed to earn quite a bit of profit for the MI complex.
JLS
May 1st, 2012 at 11:31 am
Good answers about whether or not Paikistan has the cabability to shoot down drones. In any case it's kind of new that they would summon US dipomat like that over it. Perhaps it means that they are going to get serious about taking back their soveriegnty and control of their country?