Pakistan Conveys Concern To US On Drone Strike

Islamabad, Nov 23, IRNA - Pakistan said on Friday that its top security and foreign affairs adviser has conveyed deep concerns to the US over a recent drone attack that killed at least six students and teachers of a religious school in the northwest of the country. The US spy aircraft fired missiles on the religious school in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Thursday morning. That was the first US drone attack in settled area which raised concerns in Pakistan as Washington has expanded its covert drone campaign outside the tribal regions. “The deep concerns of the Government of Pakistan were conveyed to the US ambassador in Islamabad on the same day,” a Foreign Ministry statement said. The US ambassador was told that the November 21 drone attack was therefore a matter of particular concern to Pakistan. “The Government of Pakistan would demand immediate cessation of these drone strikes,” the statement said, adding that the present government has been raising its concern over the drone strikes with the US Administration and at the United Nations. The PM during his recent visit to the US had also raised the issue with President Obama and other senior US leaders. Security sources say that targeted seminary was linked to the Afghanistan’s Haqqani Network and Maulvi Ahmed Jan, deputy of the group’s chief was among those killed in the strike. The issue of drone strikes is a source of tension between Pakistan and the US as Washington is in no mood to change its covert operation despite Islamabad’s public condemnation. The US insists Pakistan has failed to act against the al-Qaeda operatives and Taliban militants in Waziristan tribal region who are accused of cross-border attacks on Afghanistan./end